Have you ever been left at the gate when your transportation departed without you?
I suspect, had the Jacksonville Jaguars lost last Sunday in London when they played their second straight game on foreign ground, that their head coach would have been left behind in a foreign country.
You know that poster that was seen in a lot of offices twenty years ago with a cat just hanging on over a ledge by the slimmest of his claws … well replace that cat with Jacksonville Head Coach Doug Pederson and you get the picture of the thin ice he has on job security.
This is a coach that led the Philadelphia Eagles to their only franchise Super Bowl win and came onto the scene in Jacksonville leading a Jaguars team from back-to-back last place finishes to the playoffs. Last year, while missing the playoffs, they still ended the season with a winning 9-8 record. Quite an accomplishment on my charts for a team coming off a season from the bottom of the league to the playoffs.
With that as a backdrop, I thought the Jaguars would be in for a very good season in 2024.
Then the season started.
And it has been anything but good for Jacksonville.
Late mistakes cost them a near certain win on opening day in Miami while the Dolphins were still at full strength with Tua Tagovailoa running their offense. It got worse from their forward.
The Jaguars were the last team to climb from the winless ranks in the entire National Football League this season. It took them five games before they notch their first victory in a home meeting against the Indianapolis Colts. Even then, the Jaguars lost that game against the point spread while giving 3½ points and winning the game 37-34.
After that victory, the Jaguars were off on a European road trip and in their first game in London got crushed by the upstart Chicago Bears, 35-16. Last week, against the lowly New England Patriots, Jacksonville got their second win of the season and earned Pederson a ticket on the Jaguars charter flight back to the United States.
On Sunday, the Jaguars host the Green Bay Packers, a team many have projected as a squad headed deep into the 2024 NFL playoff field.
The Packers lost their opener this year, also on foreign territory, to the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil. They also lost in that game the services of starting quarterback Jordan Love, who was sidelined for the next couple weeks and was replaced by untested Malik Willis. Buoyed by the need to compensate for the loss of their starting quarterback, Mike LaFleur’s Packers put together a couple gutsy efforts while winning both of Willis’ starts, first over the Indianapolis Colts and then on the road against the Tennessee Titans.
When Love returned for fourth week action, the Packers dropped a division game to the Minnesota Vikings on the road, 31-29.
They haven’t lost since.
The Packers bring a three-game winning streak into Jacksonville this week and are favored to pick up a fourth straight win against the struggling Jaguars.
Not going to happen.
It is turnaround time for Trevor Lawrence and company. The precarious hold on his job withstood its first test last week, and this Sunday at home Pederson gets a new lease on life as his team responds with a convincing win over the Florida visitors.
Qoxhi Picks: Jacksonville Jaguars (+4) over Green Bay Packers