Following the Jacksonville Jaguars loss to the Houston Texans by the score of 21-20, Jacksonville team officials fired Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. The news of Bradley’s firing should come as no surprise. This latest loss dropped the Jaguars to 2-12 on the season, and 14-48 in Bradley’s three-year tenure as head coach. The loss to the Texans looks even worse when Houston’s starter, Brock Osweiler, was benched for his lack of effectiveness, and replaced by Tom Savage.
Jacksonville Jaguars Fire Head Coach Gus Bradley
Jacksonville owner Shad Khan made the decision following the Jaguars 21-20 loss to the Houston Texans, in which the Jaguars squandered a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. Following the Jaguars loss to the Tennessee Titans (8-6) on a nationally televised game in October, Khan had considered to move on from Bradley, but choose to keep him around a few more weeks. During that span, Jacksonville would lose to backup quarterbacks Savage (Houston), Paxton Lynch (Broncos) and Nick Foles (Chiefs).
Doug Marone, the Jaguars’ assistant head coach/offensive line coach, will take over as the interim coach in the meantime. Owner Shad Khan released this statement on the teams website Sunday afternoon.
“I thanked Gus Bradley today for his commitment to the Jacksonville Jaguars over the past four seasons. As anyone close to our team knows, Gus gave his staff and players literally everything he had. Our players competed for Gus and I know they have a great respect for him, as I do.”
It’s never any fun to see someone lose their job, and Bradley was well-liked by his players for his positive outlook and ability to motivate. Whoever ends up with the Jaguars head coaching job in 2017 will take over a team that features a lot of young talent and potential for future success. While things haven’t always gone according to script for this franchise, another year’s worth of high draft picks will only help the situation. Look for the Jaguars rebuild to take a big step forward in the off-season.
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