49ers expected to choose either Chip Kelly, Mike Shanahan

The San Francisco 49ers are expected to choose between Chip Kelly and Mike Shanahan to be the team's next head coach, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Thursday.

The source told Schefter that the decision is expected to be made by Friday.

San Francisco went 5-11 under first-year coach Jim Tomsula and missed the playoffs for the second straight season. Tomsula was fired on Jan. 3 after taking over for Jim Harbaugh, who left after the 2014 season in what the team called a "mutual" parting.

Kelly, who was fired by the Eagles before the end of the season, already has an in with Niners senior personnel executive Tom Gamble, who had been with Kelly in Philadelphia.

The Niners' offensive coordinator the last time they won a Super Bowl back in 1994, Shanahan was more than intrigued by the job last year. He won a pair of Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos as a head coach in the late 1990s.

Shanahan, who turns 64 in August, last coached in the NFL in 2013, when his four-year run with the Washington Redskins ended after a 3-13 season. He has a record of 170-138 in his 20 seasons as a head coach but is just 1-5 in the postseason since John Elway retired after the 1998 season.

ESPN Staff Writer Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.