It was just a couple of months ago that we were hearing all was well in San Francisco with its new head coach, Chip Kelly.

Now we’re hearing there is a real chance Kelly will be one and done in the city by the bay, and we really can’t hang this one on Jed York or Trent Baalke.

After Kelly won a power struggle for personnel control in Philadelphia and then lost his job because he did such an awful job wielding that control, we’re hearing multiple reports of Kelly’s representatives testing the waters around several plum college job openings because he may be coming to the realization that he is just a better fit in the college game than he is in the NFL.

With openings currently at LSU, Baylor and Purdue, and the possibility that jobs will open at Texas, Auburn, USC and Kelly’s old stomping grounds in Oregon, there may never be a better time for him to take the leap back to the game that made him so successful, as opposed to sticking with what may be the worst team in the NFL and showing no real promise of getting better fast.

According to our sources, Kelly’s “people” have been quietly planting seeds at most of the schools mentioned above, making it clear that if they do in fact end up with a search for a new coach, they might be pleasantly surprised by Kelly’s willingness and desire to talk.

What is not yet clear, according to our sources, is how York and Baalke will react if what we're hearing is correct.

The 49ers will continue to pay Jim Tomsula through 2018, $14 million in total, and certainly don’t want to pay Kelly anything not to coach for them as well. But if it turns out that Kelly is in fact out job shopping, it will also be very difficult for York and Baalke to justify keeping him in San Francisco.

Can it really just be three seasons ago (2013) that York and Baalke were the hottest management team in the NFL, and now they just can’t seem to stay out of their own way?