JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a year of high expectations for the Jacksonville Jaguars, two superfans who have built man-caves dedicated to the home team expressed their disappointment after Sunday’s loss to the Titans that knocked the Jaguars out of the playoffs.
The two men are Jon Ficther, who decorated his entire apartment teal and black, and Stephen Dickey who recreated his entire upstairs as a shrine to the Jaguars.
“I thought we were going to be the next team that was going to do it, but we were 8-3. We never have winning records here,” Fichter said.
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Ficther is frustrated as more than a decade-long Jags fan who’s befriended a lot of players.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve only had three winning seasons and I think this hurts more than the AFC South game that we lost because we really thought we were going to go somewhere far,” Fichter said.
Dickey tends to have a positive outlook on most things, but even this was a gut punch to a team with so much promise. In fact, the Jags made the top five in the mid-season NFL power rankings and were considered a lock for the playoffs.
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“Devastating is a very strong word. In all reality, it’s just football and it was disheartening,” Dickey said.
Now the question is, what’s next for the team? Is this still a strong franchise or are we regressing to the 2010s when the team would be lucky to get a couple of wins in a season?
“We’re a young team. We need the time to develop and get better and come back next year,” Dickey said.
But not everyone is that positive. Joe Sampson said on social media that he’s selling his season tickets after 14 years of futility.
This was gonna be my 15th year as a #Jaguars season ticket holder, but I’m out. It’s a dramatic waste of time and money after 14 years and only two good seasons + so few home wins. 😕
— Joe Sampson (@JoeSampsonFL) January 8, 2024