Defense Melts As Jaguars Are All But Eliminated After Falling To Lions

Jaguars Lose An Embarrassing Game Against A Seemingly Unstoppable Lions Offense

Jack Fox had a pretty good day today. You might not know who he is because he's the Lions punter and didn't play today. He made $73,235 for his performance. Disappointing is an understatement for the Jaguars today. For a team that has already been punished after buying into the hype and hope that came from a good game, the Jaguars fell for it again. Mike Caldwell directed what was arguably one of the most pathetic defensive performances in Jacksonville history while the Jaguars offense made questionable choices that led to several dead drives.

As insane as it may sound, today could've actually been worse. Late in the second quarter, Trevor Lawrence was taken down on a sack that looked like it potentially caused a season-ending injury. Many fans were speculating that Lawrence could've been seriously injured, but against all odds he was able to run out of the tunnel for the second half and make multiple scrambles for the Jaguars offense. At least we can be happy with that.

Doug Pederson Will Have To Seriously Consider Whether To Retain Mike Caldwell Past This Season

This could've been considered an overreaction if Mike Caldwell had only had a bad defensive performance once or twice this season, but this has become a consistent expectation out of the Jaguars defense. The difference between today and the last few weeks before was that the Jaguars defense wasn't even able to end a drive without giving up some degree of points. The silver lining had been the turnover differential in games recently but that one good attribute was not present today. For a defense that should definitely not be among the NFL's worst, I can't be anything but disappointed and confused in this performance.

I would usually not advocate for the dismissal of a coach during their first season, but it's been clear that there has been nothing but complete confusion on defense this year. High draft picks have been performing at the level of rotational players, defensive stars have gone silent, and opposing offenses have been able to consistently carve up points against the Jaguars. There's still five games left for this defense to show some progress, but if nothing changes then I would strongly consider moving on to prevent even more regression from that entire half of the roster.

Jaguars Aren't Ready To Compete For The Playoffs

Playoff teams are able to minimize the mistakes and take advantage of games against inferior teams. Even when the Jaguars have faced teams that they are considered to be better than, they have consistently overlooked those matchups and been embarrassed. As much as the Duval Faithful deserves a playoff team in Jacksonville, this team is not ready for the playoffs. The Jaguars need to learn to be confident and respectful towards their opponents. Early this season, we saw the Jaguars lose an embarrassing game to the Houston Texans in Jacksonville following the arrival of the hype train. Perhaps those same Jaguars reared their heads today.

The only way that the Jaguars are going to learn to be a winner is to establish a culture of winning that's backed up by success on the field. Great strides have been made at changing the culture, but the truth is that the Jaguars have lost two thirds of their matchups this season. We can't look past the week to come and have to focus on the task that lies ahead. In 2022, the Jaguars have had to learn all of these lessons the hard way and I still believe that it'll create a playoff-caliber team in 2023.

Trevor Lawrence Is Mostly Healthy After A Terrifying Second Quarter Injury

There was about 20 minutes on Sunday that Jaguars fans felt absolutely sick. It seemed as if the Jaguars face of the franchise had suffered a huge injury, but against all odds he was shortly after making scrambles on the field. Being able to survive a sack like he did in the second quarter makes you wonder if Lawrence has rubber bones. Most quarterbacks would've been done for the season but Trevor isn't like most quarterbacks. Add healthy to the long list of attributes we're thankful that Mr. Sunshine holds.

If the Jaguars are still looking to finish this season off strong, they'll need to be ready to take on an angry Titans team that was also demolished in similar fashion. A loss in Nashville would certainly be the final nail in the coffin for the Jaguars, but a win could change the entire outlook for at least one week. I told everyone to enjoy the great win against the Ravens last week and today's performance is the exact reason I said that. Now that we're back down to earth let's hope for some more improvement as this team looks to the future. Thanks for reading, feel free to give your thoughts in the comments and any suggestions for content you want to see. Make sure to be respectful towards other fans and represent the Jaguars fan base the way it deserves.