San Francisco 49ers head coach Chip Kelly met with Bay Area media for what is likely his final time following the team's 25-23 Week 17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. He confirmed that there will be a meeting with ownership today to determine his fate.
49ers general manager Trent Baalke, who was at today's game, was reportedly informed on Friday that he would not return. Prior to the game, Baalke confirmed that he had been fired. Kelly will reportedly suffer the same fate, per a report on Saturday night by Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Kelly had not yet learned that Baalke had been let go. "I didn't learn that Trent Baalke was fired," said Kelly. "I was just called last night. I heard the same reports and Jed just talked to me briefly and said he would talk to me today."
"I feel that if I was distracted by anything else, I wouldn't be giving [the players] what they deserve," Kelly said of the mentality going into the 49ers' final game of the season. "And they gave me everything every day so I've got to give it back to them. Those guys are awesome."
Kelly said that, prior to the game, no players asked him about his future. After the game, there were a lot of hugs between Kelly and the players.
"It's a bottom-line business," Kelly said of the reports. "We probably didn't win enough games."
Kelly said that he has never had any conversations with ownership or management about players or coaches and that he was never asked to make any changes to his staff. "They never told me who to play, who not to play," Kelly said. "We just coached the guys we had and did the best job we could."
Kelly ended his press conference by thanking the Bay Area media for their professionalism this season. "I do appreciate you guys," Kelly said. "I thought my first year here, the group of guys that I got to work with every day, Matt [Maiocco of CSN Bay Area], Matt [Barrows of the Sacramento Bee], the whole guys, Cam [Inman of Bay Area News Group], Eric [Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle], the rest of the group here, the guys that were here every day, Chris [Biderman of USA TODAY] – it was awesome. I really appreciate you guys. I thought you were really professional and I enjoyed it. Thank you."
