Chip Kelly's Buccaneers or Watched The NFL Playoff

If Sunday night made a sound, I'm thinking it would be "Swoosh."

We weren't fooled. We weren't lied to. None of us. Not a one. Just all left wondering what happened, who played the parts, and how it is that Kelly went from gone to back again. Because one minute credible sources told multiple news outlets --- national and local --- that Kelly's deal with the Buccaneers was a done deal, and then, the next, the same sources were insisting you'd heard right: Kelly changed his mind, reversed course and decided to stay at Oregon.

He's staying. For now. We think. Kind of. Right?

Well, who knows? We'll know for sure when the recruits commit, the tailgaters show up and season kicks off. Either that, or we're all being played by Kelly and whoever else is pulling the strings. Be sure, though, if you're pregnant, have high blood pressure or a heart condition, you ought to take a hiatus from being a University of Oregon football fan.

Check back in a week. We'll know more then.

My initial column, written on deadline and with solid sourcing, holds up. I still believe Kelly has it right when he announces all the time that no one person is bigger than the Ducks football program. No player. No booster. No coach.

The Ducks program, with an innovative coach and continued support, would survive the loss of a starting quarterback or defensive back or running back the same as a departing coach. Credit where it's due, Kelly's been terrific in his three seasons, but losing the coach wouldn't have been a death sentence.

Still, Kelly ended the fretting by deciding to succeed himself at Oregon.

Oregon's football program has inherent advantages over the competition. It has a stadium filled to capacity with $12 million in season-ticket sales annually. It has incredible facilities, a unique relationship with Nike, and a booster in Phil Knight who ends up the most valuable asset in the land.

The Ducks athletic department has enjoyed a revenue increase of 71 percent in the last five years. And make no mistake, the football program has been the prime beneficiary, outspending, out-cooling, outmaneuvering. And maybe sometime between deciding to leave and actually leaving, Kelly came to his senses and realized that chasing an NFL dream would mean an end to all this.

The NFL promotes parity. It's partly why the league works. There's a salary cap. The television deal is socialist. Everyone has a chance to win. Suit up and roll the dice, and even a seven-loss team like the New York Giants can reach a Super Bowl. In that sense, it's nothing like college football, and the Bowl Championship Series, which would have stuck the Giants in the Humanitarian Bowl weeks ago and called it good.

Maybe Kelly watched the NFL playoff games and realized, "Hold up. The teams only have ONE home uniform?!?"

This Kelly decision became so nutty and surreal that someone could tell me today that Knight heard the Ducks prized coach was leaving and, then, landed his helicopter on the coach's hotel roof in Tampa Bay, where he handed out bars of gold that changed Kelly's mind, one thump at a time.

Also, that Knight wore only metallic body paint during the feat.

That --- I'd believe right about now. Why not? Because I signed off Sunday night and rejoined my family, believing Boise State's Chris Petersen had a better chance than Kelly to be the Ducks head football coach next season.