Raiders fire offensive coordinator Chip Kelly after recent poor performance

LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was fired Sunday night after yet another poor offensive performance.

Kelly’s dismissal came less than four hours after the Raiders were beaten 24-10 by Cleveland. Las Vegas allowed the Browns to sack Geno Smith 10 times and fell to 2-9.

“I spoke with Chip Kelly earlier this evening and informed him of his release as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator,” coach Pat Carroll said in a statement. “I want to thank Chip for his service and wish him all the best in the future.”

Carroll did not immediately name a new coordinator.

This is the second time he has fired a coordinator this month. Special teams coordinator Tom McMahon was let go on November 7, and Darius Swinton II took over on an interim basis.

Kelly was the biggest name assistant hired by Carroll, who was in his first year coaching the Raiders after leading the Seattle Seahawks for 14 seasons. He reportedly received a $6 million contract, the most for an NFL offensive coordinator, which helped lure him to leave Ohio State, where he helped the Buckeyes win a national championship as offensive coordinator last season.

But Kelly never lived up to the hype, and neither did the contract, and the Raiders’ offensive numbers bear it out.

Through Sunday’s games, Las Vegas was last in the NFL with 15 points per game, second worst with 3.54 yards per rush and 3.7 sacks allowed per game, third worst with 4.59 yards per game and fifth worst with 82.3 passer rating.

And Kelly’s offense declined as the season went on. The players scored 16 points or fewer in four of the last five games and 10 points or fewer in three of those games.

Smith has thrown 13 interceptions, tied with Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa for the most in the league. Ashton Jeanty, drafted sixth overall with hopes of developing the NFL’s worst rushing game, has rushed for 604 yards, averaging 3.6 per carry.

Many of those struggles can be traced to the offensive line, which is missing injured starters Colton Miller and Jackson Powers-Johnson, but has not performed well even when healthy. The players didn’t make improving the line a big offseason priority, and the two players they drafted in the third round, Caleb Rogers and Charles Grant, have been mostly bystanders.

Las Vegas’ two rookie receivers, Jake Beach and Donte Thornton Jr., have not stepped up to fill the void left by the trade of Jacoby Myers to Jacksonville.

How much of Kelly’s fault was debatable, but it’s hard to find evidence that his coaching elevated the offense. He and Carroll were questioned about their game plan in Monday night’s 33-16 loss to Dallas, in which the Raiders were called for 32 pass plays and three runs in the first half.

In a sign that Kelly’s time with the Raiders was coming to an end, fans repeatedly booed the offense against the Browns. Las Vegas committed eight penalties, turned it over twice and lost one fumble.

Kelly went 46-7 in four seasons as head coach at Oregon before spending four years as an NFL head coach, three with Philadelphia and one with San Francisco. He returned to the college ranks as UCLA’s coach from 2018-23 before spending last year as coordinator under Ryan Day at Ohio State.