The Sports Report: Good news or bad? Chip Kelly will return next season

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Ben Bolch: Chip Kelly had one giant factor working in his favor in any calculus of his performance: Going back nearly a century, UCLA had never fired a football coach at the end of a season in which the Bruins beat rival USC.

Some left, sure.

Red Sanders died of a heart ailment after beating the Trojans. Terry Donahue retired. Dick Vermeil took a job with the Philadelphia Eagles. Tommy Prothro took a job with the Rams.

Kelly will lead UCLA into the Big Ten era in 2024 after bringing the Victory Bell back to Westwood earlier this month, according to one person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The retention of Kelly nearing the end of a sixth season in which he’s posted a .500 record with no bowl victories will not be met with universal support. One fan said he had hired a plane to fly a banner over campus Tuesday morning that says, “READ THE ROOM — FIRE CHIP KELLY.”

The Bruins’ 38-20 victory over the Trojans at the Coliseum was the highlight of a largely disappointing season in which the team continually shuffled quarterbacks and went 7-5, losing its final two home games to underdogs Arizona State and California. UCLA’s loss to the Golden Bears on the day Kelly turned 60 left the teams in a tie for seventh place in the conference standings.

After touting “friendships, relationships and championships” at his introductory news conference, Kelly has never come close to recapturing the glory of his 46-7 record at Oregon nor won a conference championship, finishing as high as a tie for second in the Pac-12 South in 2021. UCLA can get its first bowl victory under Kelly next month, most likely in the Los Angeles Bowl or the Independence Bowl as part of a postseason schedule that will be announced Sunday.

Kelly, who is under contract through the 2027 season, will make $6.1 million next season, with a small raise to $6.2 million in each of the following three seasons. His buyout drops to zero on Dec. 16, 2025.

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UCLA POLL

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LAKERS

From Dan Woike: The swings in the NBA are violent, a good game often just a day or two away from a rough one.

Saturday night in Cleveland, the Lakers’ offense rolled, the ball zipped, and late in the game the defense flexed.

Monday night in Philadelphia, just two days after the Lakers looked so connected, they were back to being strangers, frustratingly glaring at one another after missed shots, botched drives and blown defensive assignments.

It resulted in a one-sided night, the Lakers watching everything go wrong around them in a 138-94 loss.

It’s tied for the fourth-most lopsided loss in team history. It was also the worst of LeBron James’ career.

Darvin Ham, a coach who has been slow to call it a night, pulled his starters with more than eight minutes to go, the game clearly lost to the 76ers, who were playing with more force, more intention and with more attitude.

The 76ers somehow attempted 18 more three-pointers and 13 more free throws, beating the Lakers on all offensive levels.

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Lakers box score

NBA scores

NBA standings

CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: The Denver Nuggets on Monday were without the three indispensable cogs of last season’s championship run.

Somehow the Clippers, despite playing at full strength, were missing even more.

Unable to generate balanced scoring between their starting star trio of Paul George, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, unable to hold onto a double-digit lead three times, and unable to keep Nuggets understudies Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan from looking like the stars they replaced, the Clippers lost 113-104 to the short-handed Nuggets.

The circumstances of their struggle made this a head-scratching mystery as much as a standard-fare loss. Denver (12-6) was playing on a second consecutive night and without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon, all battling various physical ailments. The Clippers entered having won four of their previous five games.

Improbably, the Nuggets’ hold on this series continues. Denver has now won 11 of the last 12 games against the Clippers, who fell to 7-9.

Jackson, the former Clipper traded last season, dribbled out the clock. Boos were few because so many fans had already left for the exits with 40 seconds still to play. Denver closed the game on a 10-2 run.

Jackson scored 35 points, making 15 of his 19 shots. DeAndre Jordan, the former Clipper center, had 21 points and 13 rebounds.

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Clippers box score

NBA scores

NBA standings

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Sean McVay arrived for work Monday possessing something he and the Rams have not enjoyed for more than a year.

A winning streak.

Yes, it’s only two games.

But by defeating the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals, the Rams achieved back-to-back victories for the first time since September of the 2022 season, when they defeated the Atlanta Falcons and the Cardinals.

“It’s definitely a little bit different mood, as you can imagine,” McVay said Monday during a video conference with reporters.

The 37-14 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday improved the Rams’ record to 5-6 overall and 4-1 in the NFC West, keeping them in the hunt for an NFC playoff spot.

The Rams play the Cleveland Browns (7-4) on Sunday at SoFi Stadium. They also have games remaining at the Baltimore Ravens (9-3), versus the Washington Commanders (4-8) and New Orleans Saints (5-6), and at the New York Giants (4-8) and NFC-West leading San Francisco 49ers (8-3).

So neither McVay nor his players are getting ahead of themselves.

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Rams-Cardinals takeaways: Healthy dose of Kyren Williams needed for L.A. playoff run

CHARGERS

From Helene Elliott: So, what now for the Chargers?

With little reason to believe club executives will come to their collective senses any time soon and dismiss coach Brandon Staley — and maybe make it a two-for-one deal by also bidding farewell to general manager Tom Telesco — the Chargers’ playoff chances have come down to one narrow and perilous path.

For them to have the faintest chance of qualifying for postseason play after their turnover-marred 20-10 loss to the AFC-leading Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night dropped their record to 4-7 and gave them their first three-game losing streak under Staley, they must win out.

“For sure. That’s exactly what it is,” wide receiver Quentin Johnston said.

And that’s exactly the problem. A team this talented, a team with quarterback Justin Herbert using his legs Sunday at SoFi Stadium to lead the Chargers in rushing yards with 47, shouldn’t be losing so many close games and shouldn’t be in this predicament.

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Chargers-Ravens takeaways: Keenan Allen continues to shine amid team’s struggles

DODGERS

From Jack Harris: The Dodgers have yet to make a major roster addition during the opening month of Major League Baseball’s offseason. But on Monday, they ensured another important piece of their 2023 team would be back in the fold in 2024.

The club is nearing a new one-year contract with outfielder Jason Heyward worth $9 million pending a physical, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was unauthorized to speak publicly. The deal is a straight-up contract with no incentives or options for the 34-year-old veteran.

Heyward’s deal will keep him in Los Angeles after his breakout 2023 season, in which the former All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner batted .269 with 15 home runs in a productive right-field platoon role.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1906 — Tommy Burns fights to a 20-round draw with light heavyweight Jack O’Brien in a world heavyweight title bout in Los Angeles.

1929 — Ernie Nevers rushes for six touchdowns and kicks four PATs to score all his team’s points, an NFL record, in the Chicago Cardinals’ 40-6 rout of the Chicago Bears.

1948 — Dippy Evans of the Chicago Bears is the only NFL player to score two touchdowns on recovered fumbles in a 48-13 victory over the Washington Redskins.

1969 — The New York Knicks beat the Cincinnati Royals 106-105 at Cleveland to set an NBA record with 18 consecutive victories.

1981 — Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant becomes the winningest coach in college football history when the Crimson Tide beats Auburn 28-17 in the Iron Bowl. It’s Bryant’s 315th victory, surpassing Amos Alonzo Stagg for most wins.

1986 — The Celtics beat San Antonio 111-96 at Boston Garden to set an NBA record with their 38th consecutive home victory.

1992 — Bobby Bowden becomes the first major college coach to win 10 games in six straight seasons as Florida State beats Florida 45-24 to finish the regular season at 10-1.

2004 — Bode Miller becomes the first man to open a World Cup season with three victories in three disciplines, winning a super-giant slalom ahead of Hermann Maier in Lake Louise, Alberta. Miller’s first career Super G win comes one day after his first World Cup downhill victory. He also won the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, and is just the fourth skier to win World Cup races in all five disciplines over his career (slalom and combined are the others).

2014 — Brandon Doughty throws a Conference USA-record eight touchdown passes, the last in overtime to Jared Dangerfield followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Willie McNeal that lifts Western Kentucky over No. 19 Marshall 67-66.

2015 — Paxton Lynch ties the FBS record with seven touchdown passes in a half, and Memphis set single-season records for yards and points in a 63-0 win over SMU.

2015 — Tyson Fury defeats Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision to end the Ukrainian’s nine-and-a-half-year reign as heavyweight champion and take his WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles.

2016 — A chartered plane with a Brazilian first division soccer team crashes near Medellin while on its way to the finals of a regional tournament, killing 75 people. Six people survive. The aircraft, which had departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was transporting the Chapecoense soccer team from southern Brazil for the first leg of a two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional of Medellin.

Compiled by the Associated Press