On FOX NFL Sunday, Jay Glazer said that Chip Kelly would be the San Francisco 49ers head coach in 2017 while reporting on the futures of Kelly and Los Angeles Rams head coach Jeff Fisher. According to Glazer, Kelly will return to San Francisco regardless of what happens with the remainder of this already disastrous season for the 49ers.
There was some speculation that Kelly might be interested in the vacant head coaching job at the University of Oregon. Kelly was quick to shoot down those rumors before they even kicked off.
"He is not going to Oregon and regardless of what happens down the stretch here, Chip Kelly will be the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers next year," Glazer said.
On Sunday, Kelly coached the 49ers to their 11th-straight loss, this time a 26-6 defeat in a Chicago snowstorm. He coached in the game just two days following the death of his father.
"Understandably, coach will take some time to be with his family before returning to the team this week," general manager Trent Baalke said via a statement following Sunday's loss in Chicago. "Chip has our continued support as he mourns the passing of his father."
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Kelly has won just one game since taking over as head coach for the 49ers. He has won just seven games in his last two NFL seasons. While Glazer believes that Kelly will return, that does not necessarily mean that changes will not take place. Baalke could still be let go following the season. Although, he has continued to travel for the team to scout college games.
Glazer has a good track record when it comes to rumors out of Santa Clara. He was among the first to report the issues that the team had with former head coach Jim Harbaugh and was the first to report that the 49ers would fire him. Team CEO Jed York may not be ready to have the team search for another head coach. If Kelly were to be fired, the 49ers would go on to their fourth head coach in as many seasons.
"Chip's going to be here for a long time, period," York said back in January following Kelly's introductory press conference.
"The last thing Jed York wants to do right now is change coaches again," our own Al Sacco said Saturday night on 95.7 The Game. "It would be the fourth coach in four years, next year with a new one and I think he hopes Kelly can do enough to stick around and I think that he will. And I think that eventually what he'll see is -- just because it's a York move to make -- is they'll promote Tom Gamble, stay with Chip Kelly and sort of stay status quo with Kelly and Gamble and what they're doing."