Chip Kelly needs to find some answers

If you're going to have a crisis as a head football coach, the time to pick is when the team has won four out of five games, which tends to make the crisis a little easier to take.

"Tough 4-1, soft 4-1, doesn't matter. You're 4-1," Chip Kelly said Sunday after the Eagles held on to beat the St. Louis Rams, despite allowing a 27-point lead to dwindle to six before time ran out.

The offense hasn't been right this season, and it still isn't fixed. That didn't constitute a true crisis against the Rams, who weren't good enough to take full advantage, but it will eventually. Kelly knows that, and he is putting all his energy into solving the problem. So far, the solution has eluded him.

"A little bit better, but I still think we're leaving yards out there," Kelly said of the offense. "We're going to continue to try to get the ball vertical down the field."

The offensive performance against the Rams, although spotty and containing only one truly good drive, was an improvement over the shutout pitched against it the previous week vs. San Francisco. Instead of gaining 17 yards on 10 carries, LeSean McCoy gained 81 yards on 24 carries. That's still not vintage McCoy, and, worse yet, the Eagles are still unable to make opposing defenses pay for overplaying the run.

"We want it for Shady so bad, but if we're winning, he's going to have to jump on the bandwagon and be a team player. He knows that," tackle Jason Peters said. "They're loading eight and nine guys in the box. They're trying to make sure it doesn't happen. They're challenging our receivers and saying, 'Y'all beat us.' "

As much as that, of course, the opposition is challenging Nick Foles, and he hasn't responded yet, particularly to Kelly's desire to get the ball vertically down the field. Against the Rams, who came into the game ranked dead last in sacks per pass play, Foles was untouched all afternoon. He had some moments and made a couple of very nice passes, but when the Eagles needed to stop the bleeding as the fourth quarter devolved, Foles couldn't move the football.

St. Louis stayed in its base defense as much as possible, pushing its forces toward the line of scrimmage to stop the running game, which opponents have obviously targeted as the facet of the offense that must be controlled. That should open gaps in the secondary, but it hasn't so far, or not ones that Foles has been able to exploit.

Meanwhile, as Kelly twists the dials and searches for the right frequency, the team is 4-1, and that gives him some cushion. If the defense and special teams keep scoring touchdowns - they've combined to outscore the offense by 35-20 in the last two games - it would add to the cushion, but that's a lot to expect.

There is a broad narrative that all the problems can be traced to ditching DeSean Jackson, who has a singular ability to stretch the field and make defenses pay attention. That might be a little simplistic, but it does point out Kelly's failure to find another way to get it done.

"Obviously, it's not going to be like last year," said center David Molk. "They know what we're trying to do and how we're going to run the ball, and they found a way to slow it. They're committing to the run. They're doing everything possible to fill the box and kill the run."

If the Rams can do it, that's a real problem. The St. Louis defense entered the game ranked 30th in the league against the run and 30th in yards per rushing attempt.

"They're better against the run than people might think," offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said. "I think that sometimes people just look at statistics and say that this team can or can't stop the run."

Well, OK, and the Rams did get slashed on some long runs against Minnesota that ballooned their average, and they did have to play DeMarco Murray of Dallas, who leads the league in rushing. Conversely, Bobby Rainey of Tampa Bay has gained 220 yards in five games, but 144 of them came against St. Louis.

The Eagles chose to see progress in McCoy's forays against the brick wall - and chose to make that the message he heard - and until that progress goes the other way, we'll have to accept the message, too.

What Chip Kelly understands as he tinkers and looks for gaps in the opposition's strategy is that he has to locate the answer eventually or the season will be in jeopardy. If they had this much trouble putting away a game against St. Louis, what would happen in the playoffs against a better team?

Call it a crisis if you like. Call it a challenge if you prefer. Call it a ring-tailed lemur if that makes you feel better. But this thing is real, and it didn't get much better on Sunday.

Only the record did, as usual.

@bobfordsports