PHILADELPHIA -- NFL is frequently said to stand for “No Fun League.” Sometimes it seems more like the “No Fair League.”

Last week, Chip Kelly took a job with the San Francisco 49ers that will pay him $6 million per year and allow him a fresh start without any leftover problems from the mess he made of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Also last week, Pat Shurmur took a job with the Minnesota Vikings that will pay him a tiny fraction of what Kelly makes. Shurmur will coach the Vikings tight ends, which is the same position he held when he first came into the NFL as Andy Reid’s assistant in 1999.

Former Eagles offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur will be the Vikings' new tight ends coach. Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire

The drop from head coach of the Cleveland Browns to offensive coordinator of the Eagles to tight ends coach in Minnesota was caused by Shurmur’s affiliation with Kelly. It’s an affiliation that Shurmur initiated with the hope that it would fill out his résumé and help him get another head coaching opportunity.

Shurmur’s mistake was buying into what Kelly believed in. While that was a necessary trait during the three years he worked for Kelly, it became a liability when Eagles owner Jeff Lurie suddenly decided that Kelly was the source of all his problems and had to be excised from the franchise.

When Lurie hired Kelly, Shurmur had no history with the new coach. Indeed, Shurmur’s history was with Lurie and the Eagles. Shurmur was a Reid assistant from 1999 until 2008. He was on Reid’s staff for all five trips the Eagles made to the NFC championship game.

After that, Shurmur was hired as offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams. He worked there two years before becoming head coach of the Cleveland Browns. The Browns’ dysfunction led to Shurmur’s dismissal after just two seasons there.

For the three years he worked for Kelly, Shurmur was the consummate good soldier. He referred to practice as “training” and praised the uptempo offense and defended the rest of Kelly’s methods.

When Kelly went 10-6 in his first season, Shurmur was mentioned as a possible head coaching candidate. When the Eagles went 10-6 again in 2014, Shurmur’s stock remained high. With a big season in 2015, Shurmur would likely have his pick of NFL jobs.

He was not only the offensive coordinator for Kelly’s team, he was the connection to quarterback Sam Bradford. If the Eagles had a good year, it was likely that meant Bradford had a good year. Shurmur would be a hot commodity.

Instead, the wheels came off in 2015. The Eagles’ offense wasn’t particularly good. That was largely because of Kelly’s insistence on jettisoning skill players and neglecting his offensive line. But Lurie’s decision to fire the head coach with one game left in his third season had more to do with the unhealthy atmosphere that had seeped into the NovaCare Complex.

Shurmur was the interim head coach for the season finale, a 35-30 victory over the New York Giants. He interviewed for the head coaching job the next day.

Two weeks later, Doug Pederson was hired to replace Kelly. Shurmur, who was on Reid’s staff when Pederson played quarterback for the Eagles in 1999, was released from his contract. Pederson hired another former backup quarterback, Frank Reich, as his offensive coordinator.

Instead of riding the Kelly wave to another head coaching job, Shurmur rode it until it crashed on the beach. Kelly was thrown clear and landed on another team with a fat contract. Because of his loyalty to Kelly, Shurmur was left with no choice but to take a position coaching job in Minnesota.

Nobody said it would be fair.