Tough season but no quit in Jaguars as trip to Detroit looms

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s getting more and more difficult to find the positives for the Jaguars.

The Jaguars (2-8) have as many losses through Week 10 as they had through the entire 2023 season. The offense is a dysfunctional mess. The defense has been one of the league’s worst. Questions are swirling about head coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke’s job statuses. The health of injured quarterback Trevor Lawrence is a daily headline.

The Jaguars are starting a backup quarterback on a banged up team. A trip to Detroit (8-1) looms Sunday and the outlook is bleak yet again for Jacksonville. In a season where nothing has gone smoothly, Pederson said he’s been proud of what he’s seen from the locker room. There’s been no quit or bailing out from players, something that’s not been lost on Pederson and the coaching staff.

“That’s a tough thing in kind of the sports world today in general across all sporting events and sporting teams. I mean, teams that go through slumps or defeats and things like that, sometimes it is hard. They feel defeated, right? Whatever team they’re on, they feel defeated,” he said.

“I’ve been on, as a player, teams where it has, once it goes sour, it just continues to go that way, and it’s like, OK, let’s just get ready for the offseason. But I’ll tell you what: you don’t see that with this team. I think it’s a credit to the leadership of this group.”

Pederson has attempted to say the right things and laud the leadership, but the wins haven’t followed. Jacksonville has six losses by five points or less this year, a continuance of its inability to close games out from 2023.

The Jaguars expected to be back slugging it out with the Texans for AFC South supremacy. Instead, they’re likely one loss away from being officially eliminated from the playoff race. Should that happen on Sunday against the heavily favored Lions, it dovetails with Jacksonville’s bye week. That could be the ideal escape hatch for owner Shad Khan if he opted for an in-season change at head coach.

Khan has been patient during his tenure and has seldom made reactionary moves. Even in the case of Doug Marrone’s final year in 2020, Khan held off until the end of the season. Marrone and the Jaguars lost a franchise-record 15 consecutive games.

Pederson and the Jaguars likely aren’t focused on anything other than Detroit. The Lions are a Super Bowl contender under head coach Dan Campbell. They’re a whopping 13-point favorite over the Jaguars, who are fresh off a humiliating offensive showing at home against the Vikings. Jacksonville managed just 143 offensive yards, the fifth-lowest total in franchise history and lost 12-7.

Mac Jones will make his second start in place of Lawrence, and he’s got to play better than he did against Minnesota for the Jaguars to have a prayer of coming back with a win. Jones committed three turnovers in the final seven minutes of the game.

“He really embraced this week, this challenge, what he’s going to face on Sunday. Continues to lead the guys, to lead the offense. Had a good day yesterday — really the last two days,” Pederson said. “… But again, he’s got a ton of confidence, we’ve got a ton of confidence in him, guys around him do. He’s had a good week.”

Injuries have walloped Jacksonville this year. In addition to Lawrence, who is nursing an injury to his left shoulder, the team is still waiting to see how running back Tank Bigsby does over the next day to determine his status. Bigsby has been battling an ankle injury. Guard Ezra Cleveland should be back this week, which will give Jones better protection from the blind side. Jacksonville needs to be at its best to have a shot at staying with the Lions.

“Obviously, going through this is a tough stretch that we’ve been through, beginning last season to now,” Pederson said. “But again, this group hangs together, they hang tough. Confidence in each other, and that’s really what it takes in order to get yourself out of these situations.”