JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars are the NFL’s last winless team.
There are rumors the head coach has lost the team, although players strongly denied that.
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The offense is a wreck, with just 60 points scored through four games.
The franchise quarterback has lost his last nine starts. The two highest-paid defensive players in franchise history have been injured and ineffective.
What is wrong with the Jaguars, and can they be fixed before the season spirals into the unrecoverable ether?
History says no. Players and coaches feel that it’s just a matter of time before they figure it out. They’re optimistic that it comes at home on Sunday against the Colts (2-2), who haven’t won in Jacksonville since 2014. Head coach Doug Pederson said that questions about his job security come with the position of an NFL head coach, but the Jaguars (0-4) are closer to success than people realize.
“I mean, that’s a good question but I think obviously you’re going to go through some setbacks in this league and there’s going to be some times where you’re going to come on some hard times. I mean, that’s just part of this game,” Pederson said. “I’ve been there before; I’ve done that before and we’ve always battled back. I mean even when we were 3-7 in ‘22, we found a way to win a game and win multiple games and that’s all it takes.”
Only one team that has started 0-4 (the 1992 Chargers) has recovered to make the playoffs. Jacksonville has started 0-4 six previous times and never won more than five games in any of those seasons. The Jaguars have a slew of reasons for the issues this season. The defense has been gouged at the worst times (the final drive against Miami in Week 1 and the final drive against Houston in Week 4). The offense has been wildly ineffective behind Trevor Lawrence.
On the defensive side of the ball, starters Tyson Campbell, Darnell Savage, Foye Oluokun and Devin Lloyd have missed a game or more. Campbell and Oluokun are both on injured reserve. Edge Josh Hines-Allen left the Week 4 loss with a concussion. He has just one sack after signing a $141 million contract extension. Fellow defensive lineman Travon Walker has a couple sacks to lead the team, but Walker isn’t getting to the quarterback like he was last season.
The injuries aside, Jacksonville’s defense has played well enough in three of its four games to win. The offense, Pederson and Taylor’s forte, has been abysmal. The defense held the Dolphins (20), Browns (18) and Texans (24) to respectable numbers, only to see the offense hold it back. The square root of the problem is the offensive struggles.
“But I’ve been in this situation before. I’ve been on teams where we’ve come out of it and won after — I think we won six straight after we lost five straight or whatever it ended up being,” Lawrence said. “We’ve been on the opposite side of it last year where we were, I think we won five or six straight and then we lost a bunch straight. It’s a long season and you just have to keep playing. You can’t get too far ahead of yourself, and you can’t sulk in the past either. We’re at where we’re at. We’ve lost our first four games. Sucks, but you can’t go back and change it.”
Lawrence is mired in the worst statistical start in his four seasons. He’s thrown for more than 200 yards just once this year and completing just 53.3% of his passes. Lawrence has thrown four touchdowns and been picked off just once, but his consistency has been all over the place. Offensive coordinator Press Taylor said that the Jaguars still have all the belief in the world that Lawrence can get things corrected.
“I mean, we don’t lose confidence in Trevor for missing a throw. It’s going to happen here and there, and obviously, some of the ones that we missed the other day were potential big plays. But that doesn’t deter us from anything,” Taylor said. “He’s never shown anything to lack the confidence, to let anything like that affect him to where, if you saw that, I think if he came off and you saw the wide eyes or you saw something or he said something that made you nervous, then it’s, alright, we’ve got to get this guy some layups, we’ve got to get him back in the groove. We’ve never once felt that from Trevor.”
Lawrence has some precedent for turning it around. In 2022, the Jaguars endured a five-game losing streak. Lawrence was held to under 200 yards passing in three of those five games and Jacksonville stumbled to a 2-6 start. The Jaguars won seven of their final nine games, won the AFC South and then a playoff game.
Jacksonville had a four-game losing streak last year and it still hasn’t figured it out. Lawrence hasn’t won a start since Nov. 26, 2023, against the Texans. Backup CJ Beathard earned the slump-busting win last year against the woeful Panthers in Week 17.
“All we can do is just win this game, this week,” Lawrence said. “I think that’s the message and that’s where I truly believe that because I’ve experienced it, and I know that that’s what it takes to get out of these ruts and to really get the team going and get some momentum. It just takes one, so whatever we have to do for each individual to feel their best, play their best on Sunday, it’s what we need to do this week.”