PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said one of the reasons Chip Kelly was fired Tuesday night, instead of "Black Monday'' the day after the final game of the NFL regular season, was so the Eagles could get a head start on other teams looking for head coaches.

Forgetting for a second that both the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins got off to a quicker start, if Lurie really wants to act now and get his man he could have him in place by the middle of next week.

No reason to wait for teams to get knocked off in the playoffs, or God forbid go all the way to the Super Bowl, the guy the Eagles should hire as their next head coach will be finished working, Sunday afternoon.

Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase is the guy.

The Bears finish their season, Sunday at home against the Lions. The Eagles could fly Gase to town, Monday, hire him, Tuesday, have a press conference, Wednesday and we could all be on vacation by the weekend.

Of course it won't happen that way because Lurie and his band of "advisors'' led by Howie Roseman will do their "due diligence'' to find who they think is the right guy. And while they waste their time, the Dolphins, the Titans and the six or seven other teams who fire their head coaches next week will scoop up Gase and the other top candidates, leaving the Eagles with the scraps.

Despite calling his never-winning Super Bowl team "The Gold Standard'' the Eagles are not the most attractive destination for a top assistant looking to become a head coach. And that's another reason why Lurie needs to act quickly.

Gase has all the qualifications and recommendations you would want in a head coach.

I'll be honest before the Eagles fired Kelly all I knew about Gase was that he was John Fox's guy (which is a pretty good thing) and really good with quarterbacks (again a good thing).

Since the craziness of Tuesday night, I've been able to do some homework on Gase and of the multiple personnel men and agents I've talked to around the league, he came out as a five-star selection.

"The next great coach in the league,'' one agent (not his) told me. "He did great with (Tim) Tebow and (Peyton) Manning in Denver and fixed Cutler (in Chicago). He's very smart.''

Gase is young, he'll be 38 in March, but that's good. He's not going to want personnel control or provide any kind of struggles with Roseman.

He's also bright, which means he may run away from Roseman. That's where Lurie has to pay him enough to make it worth it for him.

The Michigan native, who went to Michigan State, worked at LSU under Nick Saban from 2000-2002. He worked with Steve Mariucci in Detroit from 2003-07 and in San Francisco with Mike Nolan for a year in 2008.

He joined Fox in Denver in 2009, stayed with him through 2014 and went with him to the Bears this past year.

"A lot of people credited (Mike) McCoy for what he did with Tebow,'' an executive said. "But it was Gase. The guy is just great with quarterbacks. Now, look how much he helped Cutler. If he puts a good defensive staff together, he'll be a real good head coach.''

Another executive, who is rare with praise, summed up Gase in one sentence.

"He would be a good coach,'' he said.

Mark Eckel may be reached at mjeck04@verizon.net. Follow him on Twitter @MarkEckel08. Find NJ.com Eagles on Facebook.

THE NO-HUDDLE SHOW, Ep. 23: Eagles fire Chip Kelly and Howie Roseman might be to blame