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Chip Kelly’s All-Time Ranking Among San Francisco 49ers Head Coaches

By Bryan Knowles

January 20, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Chip Kelly (left) and San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke (right) address the media in a press conference after naming Kelly as the new head coach for the 49ers at Levi's Stadium Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
January 20, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Chip Kelly (left) and San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke (right) address the media in a press conference after naming Kelly as the new head coach for the 49ers at Levi's Stadium Auditorium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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It’s been hard to be faithful at some points in the team’s history. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
It’s been hard to be faithful at some points in the team’s history. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /

Old-School Dark Ages

Pete McCulley (1978)
Red Strader (1955)
Jack Christiansen (1963-1967)

McCulley and Strader sort of fit in with the previous group of one-season blunders, but they turned in objectively worse performances than the previous group. McCulley took over in 1978 after Ken Meyer was fired, and led the team to a thunderous 1-8 start before being fired himself halfway through the year; his .111 winning percentage is the worst in franchise history.  Strader led the team to a 4-8 record in his one season at the reins; while that’s a better winning percentage than Tomsula managed, Strader took over a more successful team; they had gone 7-4-1 in 1954.

Christiansen is a beast of a different color. A Hall of Famer as a defensive back and return specialist, Christiansen’s first couple seasons really did him in. He took over halfway through the year for Red Hickey in 1963, and finished that year with a 2-9 record. The next season was only marginally better, finishing 4-10. The team bounced up to .500 in the years afterward, but Christiansen could never really overcome the struggles he had early on, and his career coaching record fell to 26-38-3.

McCulley and Strader are the worst one-season coaches in 49ers history, when you take into account just how poor they performed and the quality of the team they took over; Tomsula at least gets the excuse of having taken over a team in turmoil. For Kelly to fall below these guys, he would have to turn in one of the worst seasons in 49ers history—a two- or three-win season that would almost ensure the 49ers are drafting first overall in 2017.

Next: A Sharp-Dressed Man