Chip Kelly Will Not Be Coaching the Cleveland Browns

The how and why of this situation don’t really matter. The only thing worth knowing is that Oregon head coach Chip Kelly won’t be the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

It’s not worth speculating any further, because it seems as if no one really knows what has gone on during the past few days. Now, according to a source (and reported by the Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot), the Browns walked away from Kelly because they didn’t feel that he was 100 percent committed to coaching in the NFL.

Right.

What really happened is that they were spurned on Saturday when Kelly met with the Philadelphia Eagles for an extended period of time (missing dinner with Cleveland), after it was reported on Friday that he and the Browns were very close to agreeing on a deal.

This forced the Browns to go into damage control, because they seemingly overplayed their hand in their strong push for Kelly. Now, they have to look as though they’re stepping away to save face and hopefully prevent the new, actual  head coach from being put in an awkward position (though we all know that is unavoidable at this point).

Judging by how weird this courtship of Chip Kelly got, could there have been a more appropriate welcome to Cleveland for owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner?