COLUMN: Franchise-Worst Loss Caps Off Jaguars, Doug Pederson's Collapse

Things weren't supposed to end like this -- not after where the Jacksonville Jaguars were a year ago.

Nov 17, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson on the sidelines during the third quarter of their game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars were never supposed to get to this point under Doug Pederson.

Sunday's 52-6 loss to the Detroit Lions was not just the worst loss in franchise history -- it was one of the most lopsided games in the entire history of the NFL. It was the kind of loss that heads normally roll for.

“You know what, I can’t control that and you know – listen, I’ve been around this League a long time and if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen obviously, but at the same time, I still have a job to do and that’s to get ready for a good division opponent here in two weeks," Pederson said after the game, with reports swirling in recent days that a bad loss could result in his firing.

If Sunday was the final act of the Pederson Era in Jacksonville, it was a fitting end to a tenure that started with so much hope but ended up wilting away, just like the regimes before him.

Even if Jaguars owner Shad Khan fires Pederson in the wake of the worst loss in team history, it is hard to argue against the immediate results Pederson brought Khan in 2022. He was hired to heal a broken organization after the tenure of Urban Meyer, who has once been referred to by a former staff member to me as a "monster."

Meyer inflicted a lot of harm on the Jaguars down to their core. Their players were impacted. So were coaches, front office members, support staff, and so many others who called the Jaguars home. The Jaguars needed a coach who could band-aid those wounds and show the franchise how to grow and mature as an NFL team in a healthy fashion.

Pederson was that coach, with players, staff members, front office personnel, and other franchise staff all lauding him for the energy and principles he carried over. He also brought one thing the Jaguars needed more than anything: wins.

In his first year as head coach, Pederson led the Jaguars to a 9-8 season and an AFC South title after being the worst team in the NFL a year before. It took some last-second heroics and some miraculous comebacks, but Pederson turned the Jaguars from ailing and losing to winning and hopeful.

After a playoff win in 2022, the Jaguars were the NFL's new favorite up-and-coming team. The Jaguars were unanimously picked to win the AFC South, and an 8-3 start in 2023 showed people that the Jaguars were very much so the next big thing.

In just 1.5 short years, Pederson healed the Jaguars. He turned them to winners. He did it quicker than anyone could have ever imagined.

But just as quickly, the Jaguars collapsed on his watch. The turnover luck regressed, injuries took place at quarterback and receiver, and the Jaguars' offense never evolved after 2022. After an 8-3 start, the Jaguars finished 1-5 down the stretch of the 2023 season and missed the playoffs after losing a must-win game in Week 18.

The collapse of 2023 saw Pederson fire almost his entire defense staff. The move was seen as curious at the time since the defense out-performed the offense for most of the year, but it was Pederson's way of offering accountability for how the season ended.

Then 2024 began, and things only unraveled worse. The Jaguars entered Sunday with a 2-8 record, the worst in the NFL. Their 1-6 record in one-score games was also the worst in the league.

Still, the Jaguars fought for Pederson. There has never been any question of their allegiance to him. But on Sunday, that didn't matter. The things Pederson had tried to build the Jaguars on crumbled underneath them, with the Lions potentially putting the final nail in the Pederson Era's coffin.

Since starting 8-3, the Jaguars are 3-14. The worst in the NFL.

That is how quickly the league moves. In fewer than 365 days, Pederson has gone from leading the NFL's next big thing to becoming the person most responsible for their complete and utter collapse.

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