From “Inferno” — the first part of Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s 14th Century poem, Divine Comedy:
“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”
This is the Latin phrase seen by Dante as he enters the gates of hell. The phrase is most frequently translated as “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
After the Philadelphia Eagles decided to part ways with head coach and general manager Chip Kelly, owner Jeffrey Lurie may as well put a banner outside of Lincoln Financial Field as fans enter the stadium on Sunday when the Eagles play the New York Giants. He could also just leave it there for the foreseeable future. Perhaps this exhaustion of hope is just a personal position, but it’s a feeling that could spread if things don’t bounce the right way.
The Eagles’ move to fire Kelly came at a time that just made no sense. The team’s season was already over after last Saturday’s loss to the Washington Professional Football Team. It was a disappointing season. That cannot be denied in any context in any universe on any medium, but Kelly could have been given the chance to remedy the situation. He wasn’t, and now, the Eagles franchise and its fan base has entered the first level of hell: limbo.
After the Philadelphia Eagles parted ways with Andy Reid in December of 2012, the team was in a similar state. The season was a tragedy, and the organization had seen an 8-8 season followed by a disastrous 4-12 season. A change obviously had to be made, and the Eagles went with then Oregon Ducks Head Coach Chip Kelly. Kelly immediately went 10-6 and went to the playoffs — albeit with Reid’s final product and not his own team. Two years and 20 wins later, the Eagles found themselves in a mired season filled with questionable moves (i.e. LeSean McCoy, DeMarco Murray, Jeremy Maclin, etc.) from a man who was trying to build his team like so many others have been allowed to do.
Reid went to four straight NFC Championship games before he went 6-10 the year after the Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots, but owner Jeffrey Lurie stuck with him. One bad year does not a bad coach make. The Eagles decided to move on, and now we’re left waiting. Enter the second circle of hell: lust.
The Philadelphia Eagles fan base is going to lust after the big names and the fresh minds. New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia’s name gets thrown around a lot as does Darrell Bevell (Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator and my personal pick, by the way) and Mike Shula, the offensive coordinator from the Carolina Panthers. (Truthfully, unless Shula is bringing Cam Newton with him, he should not be considered.) Then there are the unicorn hires like Sean Payton or (in a perfect world) John Harbaugh. What coach is going to come in and take charge to clean up this “alleged” mess and the wave of mutilation that Chip Kelly has left?
When talking about the third circle of hell (gluttony) in relation to the Philadelphia Eagles, all you have to do is look at owner Jeffrey Lurie. No, that is not in any way a crack on Lurie’s weight since 2000. The gluttons in Divine Comedy were a group that lay “sightless and heedless of their neighbors” as Dorothy Sayers wrote in her book Hell in 1949. Lurie’s decision to fire Chip Kelly comes sightless of his neighbors — other NFL owners who aren’t afraid to take chances.
When Pete Carroll went 7-9 in back to back seasons in his first two years in Seattle, did Paul Allen jump ship? No. Carroll and the Seahawks went to two straight Super Bowls and are pretty poised to go again if they stay hot. John Harbaugh didn’t make it to the Super Bowl for four years until he won one in 2012. Did Steve Bisciotti bat an eye before 2012? Not once.
The fourth circle of hell, greed, is one directed squarely on the Philadelphia Eagles fan base. This fan base’s greed for a Super Bowl title — while passionate and completely understandable — in some ways can be detrimental to the organization at times. It’s well documented how great a fan base we are because we know football, and we just want our team to win. Unfortunately, none of us are qualified head coaches or general managers. Let those people do their jobs. Voice your frustrations how you see fit, but understand there is (or in Chip Kelly’s case, there was) a plan. Let them see it through to the end. We didn’t get Andy Reid’s finished product until five years after he was made head coach. I get that patience is not a virtue this fan base has, but it’s time to try and adapt because if not, this fan base will constantly be living in the fifth level of hell: anger.
The Philadelphia Eagles fans has been known to be full of it, and it’s only going to continue after Chip Kelly is gone. Whether he remained here or he was fired, he was always going to be the subject of scrutiny regardless. That being said, the new guy they bring in will have to deal with the same passion, the same anger, the same problems that just about every coach that has graced this city. When the new coach doesn’t perform, there will be more anger which leads to hate and then suffering or heresy (sixth level of hell).
You’ll try to trick yourself into believing that no matter how bad “new dude” is, he’s still better than Chip Kelly. If the Eagles go 7-9 or worse for the first two years of the gentleman’s tenure, that’s not going to be true, is it? All of this leads to the seventh level of hell which is violence. Now, I’m not suggesting that Eagles fans will begin beating the crap out of other fans or themselves — despite the warped national media opinion of us. This violence will be more verbal. Radio stations will be full of callers who spit venom, and beat writers/columnists who continue to promote a negative narrative of the new coach.
The new coach will be sent to the eighth level of hell (or fraud) — specifically Bolgia 10, the Bolgie (or ditch of stone). That Bolgie houses several types of sinners, but the applicable one here would be impostor. The man who takes over Chip Kelly’s job will be seen as the man who will resurrect the franchise and pull us out of the mire that Kelly left. When that prophecy isn’t fulfilled, he’ll be thrown into this Bolgie with so many others who have come before him that Philadelphia Eagles fans have jettisoned.
The final circle of hell is simple: treachery. Philadelphia Eagles fans will feel betrayed that their owner, Jeffrey Lurie, sent them down another tailspin only to produce nothing. They will be angry once again, and management must make another decision on the future of the franchise — a franchise that is so hungry for a championship but lacks something that so many others have: vision. It’s to the point now where I believe this organization has none. I believe this team has thrown darts at a dart board for a while, now, and it’s not something I see coming to an end any time soon.
I am a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and you and I are all stuck in hell.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
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