Chip Kelly's NFL honeymoon lasted one half of football. Since a dominating first half in the season opener against the Washington Redskins, Kelly's team has been outscored 53-79.
On Thursday night, the first-year coach might have thought he was back at Oregon, facing SEC defenses.
"You can't win a football game when you turn the football over like that," Kelly said of the Philadelphia Eagles' five turnovers in a 26-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, per an Eagles transcript. "We're not blaming it on anything except our poor execution."
After two weeks of getting the good Michael Vick, Kelly got to experience the frustrating version. But Kelly defended his starting quarterback's shaky play.
"I don't think Michael was out of sorts," Kelly said. "I thought Michael did some nice things. We have to do a better job protecting Mike and giving him an opportunity to set his feet and throw the football."
Kelly's Eagles never were going to sustain their level of play from the first half of Week 1, but their play won't be as bad as it was Thursday night.
Last week, Kelly wouldn't say the Eagles' quick-strike offense helped wear down its own defense. On Thursday, he blamed the turnovers.
"You can't certainly turn the ball over like we did because it does put those guys back out there," Kelly said. "Part of our job offensively is we need to hold on to the ball and sustain some drives so that we can get some plays run and try to get their defense gassed."
We're not going to overreact to Kelly's 1-2 start. Any coach who loses gets peppered with questions -- especially one that goes for a two-point conversion in the first quarter.
The way the Eagles' offense plays remains a fascinating study, which teams will struggle with the entire season. Some weeks, the Eagles might struggle with it themselves.
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