Pressure Mounting On 49ers Coach Chip Kelly
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (CBS SF & AP) — For weeks, San Francisco coach Chip Kelly seemed to be a calm voice amid the stormy waters of a dismal season. But on Monday, the strain began to show.
The 49ers in the midst of an nine-game losing streak and at his weekly press conference he had a terse exchange with a Bay Area reporter.
Q:Have you gotten assurances from Jed that you are going to be here next year?
Kelly: "No. We haven't had any conversations about that at all and about anybody's job security."
Q: Do you fully expect to be here next year?
Kelly: "Do you?"
Q: Do I expect to be in my job next year?
Kelly: "Yeah."
Q: I hope so. I've got a performance review coming up in December.
Kelly: "Well, that' makes two of us."
Q: Yours might be January.
Kelly: "We're all in the same boat."
When it came to trying to pinpoint what areas the 49ers need to tighten up, Kelly said he couldn't pinpoint one area.
"It flows depending on the game you're playing, who you're playing with," Kelly said. "As I talked to the guys yesterday after the game, it was about finishing."
The 49ers lost 30-17 to the Patriots on Sunday, giving them a ninth straight loss to tie the longest losing skid in franchise history. They also lost nine straight in 1978.
San Francisco hired Kelly to replace Jim Tomsula, who finished 5-11 in 2015 in his only season as head coach. Kelly's team is 1-9 so far.
San Francisco next travels to play the Dolphins (6-4), who have won five straight. Kelly will bring the league's last-ranked defense and 29th-ranked offense to Miami.
The 49ers entered the fourth quarter against the heavily favored Patriots (8-2) down just 13-10 before Tom Brady threw a pair of touchdown passes and led a drive that culminated in a field goal. Brady finished with 280 yards passing and four touchdowns.
Brady sealed the win with a 56-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Mitchell with 10:06 remaining, getting the throw off a split second before getting hit from
behind by Ahmad Brooks.
"We're a half a second away, or even closer than that, to getting (Brady) down and finishing the play," Kelly said. "And I think that's what you have to do against a good quarterback and we didn't do it."
