Will Spiraling Jaguars Continue to Play For Hot-Seat Coach?

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 1-5 and things continue to sink lower in Duval. Has head coach Doug Pederson lost the players?

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson comes off the field after a grueling loss to the Chiefs. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Kansas City Chiefs at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, FL Sunday, September 17, 2023. The Jaguars fell 17 to 9 to to the Chiefs. / Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

Losing is tough.

Losing just about every game is even tougher. And when expectations were highest and the team supposedly the best in history, losing as much as the Jacksonville Jaguars can sink into a tail-spin. The Jaguars are going through that right now.

The Jaguars were supposed to make their first win of the season a turning point. Every game from then on a must-win and surely they would give a must-win performance. They were heading to London, where they were historically dominant. Against a rookie quarterback.

A lock for their second win of the season? No, an embarrassing 35-16 loss at the hands of the Chicago Bears. A day after owner Shad Khan said he had faith in head coach Doug Pederson.

There seems to be no answer for the Jaguars. It was thought to be poor communication from sideline to field, then it was the tempo of the offense. Offensive line play needed to improve. And then the defense needed to improve. Run game? Hit or miss.

The Jaguars are mathematically out of the playoff race with no answers. Morale might be low but quarterback Trevor Lawrence is still behind his head coach. He says the team is, too.

"Yeah, that's our head coach, and we're a team. This is tough. Losing is hard. It's hard," Lawrence said. "But it has nothing to do with that relationship, how we feel about Coach. We're a group. We're staying together. We know brighter days are ahead. We just have to keep working, and we have to keep putting our best foot forward. You know, we just have to stick together as a team. We have to play more had complementary. We're not playing good team football right now. So whatever the answer to that is we have to find it quick. Yeah, no thought of that on my mind."

Pederson himself made some interesting remarks about the state of the team after the game.

"Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. Nobody's going to say, okay. But we've got to change," Pederson said. "I mean, I say we, it's all of us, coaches, players, everybody. We have got to change right now, that culture. ... We're on a slippery slope or right on the cusp of that slope and at some point we've got to, we just have to -- enough is enough. And you got to have enough pride and figure out a way."

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