Chip Kelly: Part 1 - The Rise

Ten years ago, during the 2013 offseason, there was no sexier NFL head coaching hire than the Eagles landing Chip Kelly. At the college level, Kelly was considered an innovator - an uptempo offensive mastermind and sports science guru. And guess what? After orchestrating a dramatic turnaround and leading the Eagles back to the playoffs for the first time in three years, Kelly seemed worthy of the hype. In the first installment of a two-part retrospective looking back on Kelly’s brief, rollercoaster tenure with the Eagles, Philadelphia Inquirer Eagles beat reporter Jeff McLane examines the factors that fueled Kelly’s meteoric rise in the NFL, and starts to address a lingering question that’s been on his mind: is the popular narrative surrounding Kelly’s legacy with the Eagles fair?

Follow Jeff McLane on Twitter. You can also read his work at inquirer.com.

unCovering the Birds sponsored by Wawa is a production of The Philadelphia Inquirer and KYW Newsradio Original Podcasts. New episodes release every Friday.

Host: Jeff McLane
Executive Producer, Philadelphia Inquirer: Renee Ifill
Director of Podcasting, KYW Newsradio: Tom Rickert
Producer: Brian Seltzer