The Eagles keep losing, and major college football coaching jobs keep becoming open.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that Chip Kelly is starting to check out from another disappointing NFL season in Philadelphia that's unlikely to end in the playoffs.
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Any momentum his team had before Week 10 has come to a screeching halt after a pair of undisciplined, mistake-filled home losses to Miami and Tampa Bay.
Losing Sunday to the Buccaneers, 45-17, was especially disturbing. It was a given that the offense would remain a grind with Mark Sanchez starting at quarterback and no Ryan Mathews to boost the running game.
But the defense, one that had been a force against the run and had pressured teams into takeaways all season, folded and failed. It allowed 246 rushing yards on just 19 Bucs attempts. It made a rookie quarterback, Jameis Winston, way too comfortable on the road, on his way to five touchdown passes.
Stud defensive end Fletcher Cox kept using the word "embarrassment" over and over to describe the performance.
One of the seasoned Eagles leaders, linebacker Connor Barwin, sent the appropriate message to Eagles fans:
"I apologize for how we played football today. They deserve better."
The thing is, Cox and Barwin are two of the highest-effort players in the league from week to week. Such a complete breakdown in physical play doesn't happen without something weighing on them mentally.
Kelly's offensive retooling hasn't worked any way you slice it, and has dragged down the defense all season. Sanchez simply picked up — and is getting picked off — where newcomer Sam Bradford left off as a turnover machine. That's been tied to shoddy offensive line play, an inconsistent running game and arguably the league's worst wide receiver corps.
Looking at their major underachieving at 4-6, the Eagles have a case to fire Kelly, given his full personnel control piled on to this mess. But this is part Greg Schiano, part Jim Harbaugh.
Kelly's tight grip keeps letting more players slip through his fingers, beyond those who have already been shipped out of town. It's hard not to think of a more pleasing trip back to college, when programs such as USC and Miami just fired their coaches. Or to Virginia Tech or South Carolina, where their coaches have hung it up. Or to the soon-to-be available LSU, the most marquee of them all.
While Kelly was concerned by continuing with his Eagles overhaul, the holdovers such as Cox and Barwin have become overwhelmed, and you can't blame them if the bending turned to breaking. Kelly's stuck needing another makeover that Philadelphia players probably don't believe he'll see all the way through.
Kelly gave it his best pro try, but he's whiffed on a major pro element: chemistry. In college, all you need to do his assemble the winning talent you want and motivate players with the fact you can make them great professionals. Kelly's attempts to do that in Philadelphia conflicts with that approach.
Whether Kelly's message at some point became lost on the Eagles or they're just now choosing to ignore it, it doesn't matter. The feeling should be mutual that it's a necessary breakup.
