So much for that momentum for the Jaguars.
Caleb Williams shredded Jacksonville’s defense for a career-high four touchdown passes and the Jaguars opened their London stretch with a 35-16 blowout loss on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Jacksonville was plagued again by the familiar assortment of issues. Dropped passes. Overthrown and underthrown balls. Inexcusable penalties. Another porous effort from the defense. It all added up to a miserable Week 6 in London with another week there to go.
What can head coach Doug Pederson and the Jaguars do to get out of a funk that has dragged the franchise down for nearly a year? After an 8-3 start in 2023, Jacksonville has now lost 10 of its last 12 games.
The Jaguars (1-5) are back in London next week when it faces another rookie quarterback in New England’s Drake Maye. But not even the rebuilding Patriots (1-4) seem like a sure win right now for Jacksonville. Pederson said that the feeling across the franchise is one of disappointment, but they have to figure out how to battle out of it.
“Defeated, obviously. I feel for the players and the coaches. We work extremely too hard to be in this position. I feel like the guys, they don’t quit. They keep fighting,” Pederson said. “We have to figure out how to just get out of our way and just play football. I say that, and it sounds easy, but it’s tough. It’s a tough game to play. We didn’t expect to be here in this spot, and, hey, now we have to find a way to get out of it.”
With a difficult schedule ahead that includes the likes of Detroit, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Houston and Green Bay, making the playoffs seems like a stretch for even the most optimistic. Trevor Lawrence threw a pair of touchdown passes but the Jaguars were again their own worst enemy. The Bears turned two Jaguars turnovers into touchdowns and were never seriously pushed by Jacksonville late.
“Yeah. We got 11 more games, so there’s definitely a way back. Me pumping us up isn’t going to do anything up here, so we have to take care of business on our end,” Lawrence said. “But, yeah, it’s a long season, and we have a lot of football left.”
Defense can’t stop rookie QB
The Jaguars survived the Colts and 39-year-old backup quarterback Joe Flacco a week ago. The margin for error was far slimmer against the Bears and No. 1 overall pick Williams, who continued his torrid stretch. He threw a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to tight end Cole Kmet and then picked Jacksonville apart even more in the second half for a career-best day.
Williams dialed up a 31-yard throw from Williams to Kmet that the tight end stretched into a touchdown and a 7-3 lead. Williams was perfect on that play call, faking a throw to his left, then looking right to get Jacksonville’s defense to bite. He then hit Kmet down the center of the field and he trucked a couple defenders to get into the end zone.
After throwing an interception to Andre Cisco, Williams bounced back on Chicago’s final drive of the half, including a pair of runs that ate up 43 yards and put the Bears in scoring range. He tossed a 2-yard touchdown to Kmet with 17 seconds before halftime for the 14-3 lead.
As good as Williams was early, he was even better than that after the break. He turned a Jacksonville interception into a 9-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen. He found Allen again on a toe-dragging 3-yard touchdown for a 28-10 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. Williams would have had a fifth touchdown throw but his quick strike pass to DJ Moore was ruled down at the 1. D’Andre Swift punched it in one play later for a 35-10 lead. Williams was 23 fo 29 for 226 yards.
“A sense of urgency, it’s a must-win,” said edge Josh Hines-Allen. “We know we have to trust in everybody here, but the sense of urgency needs to pick up, the passion, the love. The reason why we do the things that we do needs to pick up a little bit more. It starts Tuesday once we get back to practice and focus on the Patriots.”
The defense was abysmal again, with no better example of that than when they were down 21-10 in the third quarter. Jacksonville had a brief bit of momentum after Lawrence threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Davis. Travon Walker sacked Williams on third-and-8 for what should have been a punt. But Walker’s sack was nullified by a 12-men-on-the field flag. Facing a third-and-3, Williams’ pass was incomplete, but Ronald Darby was flagged for holding to give Chicago the automatic first down. Darby was called for holding again four plays later on third down and the Bears scored three plays later to go in front 28-10.
Going into Week 7, the Jaguars are in must-win territory.
“I would say so,” Pederson said. “I would say everything here on out, quite frankly. If we want to get back to playing the type of football we know we can play, you’re going to have to win a lot of games moving forward. I would say that, yeah, these games moving forward are just that.”
Pass catchers run hot and cold
The receiving corps was upgraded this season when the team drafted Brian Thomas Jr. in the first round and then signed Davis in free agency. The return of Christian Kirk from core muscle surgery was supposed to give Lawrence the best group of pass catchers he’s had.
That hasn’t quite happened.
Thomas has been better than advertised but Kirk has been inconsistent while Davis has been subpar. In last week’s win over the Colts, Davis lost a fumble that killed a Jacksonville scoring drive late in the second quarter. The Jaguars had a beautiful opening drive going, a 14-play, 67-yard march that chewed up more than 10 minutes. Lawrence found Davis in between defenders in the end zone and put it right in his chest. Davis dropped the pass.
That forced Jacksonville to settle for a 30-yard field goal from Cam Little to get on the scoreboard first. He bounced back in the second half, catching his first touchdown as a Jaguars player on a 21-yard strike from Lawrence in the front left corner of the end zone to get Jacksonville within 21-10. Davis added a second touchdown catch in the fourth to get the Jaguars to within 35-16 but also had another drop in the end zone. Thomas and Kirk also had would-be touchdown passes dropped in the end zone.
“I think as a team we do have to be better at overcoming adversity. You want to start fast, and I thought we started pretty good today. We got three points,” Lawrence said. “... That’s been kind of our problem in the past was not starting. So we did that today, and then we still had some of the mistakes creep in.”
Davis entered the game with 12 catches for 159 yards, a total that ranks behind Thomas and Kirk, and just ahead of second-year tight end Brenton Strange.
Tight end Evan Engram returned after missing four weeks with a hamstring injury and was a welcome sight. Engram was Lawrence’s favorite target (10 catches, 102 yards) but had a killer fumble on Jacksonville’s opening drive of the second half.
More injuries
Running back Travis Etienne has been bothered by a shoulder injury but left this game with a hamstring injury. Etienne had three carries for negative yardage. Cornerbacks Jarrian Jones and Darnell Savage were both injured on the same play in the third quarter.