The San Francisco 49ers may not be the latest team to fully recognize Chip Kelly's shortcomings at the NFL level.
No, it fully appears as if that responsibility now falls upon Kelly's current employer, the Las Vegas Raiders.
Granted, Kelly's one-year debacle with the Niners in 2016 was under wholly different circumstances. He was the head coach, one who inherited a roster completely devoid of talent, yet the end result of a 2-14 record pretty much summed up how his lone season in San Francisco would be remembered.
In Vegas, his first return to the pro ranks after coaching stints at both UCLA and Ohio State, Kelly is head coach Pete Carroll's offensive coordinator, and they inherited a roster with notably more talent than Kelly's 2016 campaign with the 49ers.
Unfortunately for the former Niners head coach, the criticisms aren't exactly letting up.
Chip Kelly is 'hearing it' from Pete Carroll, Raiders fanbase
The one-win Raiders are coming off their worst loss of the season to date: a 40-6 embarrassment at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts, one in which quarterback Geno Smith tossed two of his NFL-leading nine interceptions.
After the game, Carroll appeared to quietly call out Kelly's play calling, saying, "We don’t ever want to rely on the quarterback has to do the whole show, sitting in the shotgun, throw the football. Never coach that way. So we have to mix our stuff so we can use our play action game."
Not saying Kelly by name, the defensive-minded Carroll certainly seems irritated.
But the former San Francisco head coach didn't exactly own up to the criticism in his response:
"That’s what our game plan is every game. We had 25 [rushing] attempts last week in the game, there was real balance in the first half of the football game when it was a close game."
Perhaps making it worse, Kelly added, "I think Geno’s playing really well for us."
Vegas owns the league's third-worst scoring offense in the NFL through five weeks, and twice already has failed to reach 10 points in a game.
This isn't the first time since joining Carroll's staff at the beginning of 2025 that Kelly has drawn some heat, as he caught some flak for trying to alter rookie running back Ashton Jeanty's pre-snap stance earlier this offseason. When the top-drafted runner went back to his original stance in late September, Carroll "loved it."
Seems like there's a bit more to a potential Carroll-Kelly feud than just balancing the run game with the passing game.
Meanwhile, San Francisco fans can simply sit back and watch the drama unfold elsewhere.