On NFL Black Monday, Jaguars owner Shad Khan made the fifth head coaching change of his tenure when he fired Doug Pederson. The move came after a disastrous 4-13 season that started with expectations of a deep playoff run.
Jacksonville’s nightmarish season after the positive preseason predictions is a case study of why analysts should look at a team objectively instead of being hypnotized by star power and believing what others say before a team takes the field.
Khan’s History Seems Worse Than It Is
Khan’s coaching changes seem more prevalent than they are. He’s owned the team for 12 years. He fired his inherited coach, Mike Mularkey, and hired Gus Bradley. Bradley got four years and compiled a 14-48 record.
Doug Marrone replaced him. In Marrone’s first year, Jacksonville advanced to the AFC Championship Game. They took a 14-3 lead over the Patriots in the second quarter before Tom Brady engineered a 24-20 comeback win.
It went downhill from there with a 1-15 campaign in 2020. They fired Marrone, secured the number one overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, and won the lottery with Trevor Lawrence.
Khan coaxed Urban Meyer out of semi-retirement from his nomadic college coaching career to be the head coach. He was fired after a series of on-and-off-field embarrassments.
Then they turned to Pederson, who got four years.
They are retaining GM Trent Baalke.
Baalke built the roster and his record and history are questionable. Even during his successful run as San Francisco 49ers’ GM, he butted heads with head coach Jim Harbaugh. After Harbaugh left, the team crashed.
The Likable Pederson Might Be Lucky and Mediocre
Fans and media saw Pederson as a savior to clean up Meyer’s wreckage. He had a Super Bowl win under his belt with Philadelphia and he did it with a backup quarterback. The Eagles fired him three years later.
In Jacksonville, he had two 9-8 seasons and one playoff appearance before this 4-13 nightmare.
The roster, though flawed especially defensively, should not have been near the bottom of the league in offensive production with Lawrence under center, two good running backs Tank Bigsby and Travis Etienne, and a solid receiving corps of Brian Thomas, Christian Kirk, and tight end Evan Engram.
They played in some bad luck, but Pederson’s career might be evening out after that championship in Philly. Without the Super Bowl season, his record as a head coach is 51-63-1.
There Will Be a Long Line of Coaching Candidates
Regardless of the results, there will be a long line of head coaching candidates salivating over this job with the odds favoring a hot name like Lions offensive coordinator Ben Jonhson.
Lawrence, their offensive firepower, and the fifth overall pick in the draft make this a great opportunity.
Still, before expecting incremental improvement until they dominate the league, look at the past three years since drafting Lawrence and hesitate before taking risks on them.
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