Gus Bradley class-act in his final press conference post-dismissal

Everyone knew it was coming and it was borderline merciful, but Gus Bradley handled his firing about as well as anybody could have imagined.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley went 14-48 in his 3+ seasons in North Florida, with his final loss coming Sunday afternoon in a classic chokejob against the Houston Texans.

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What ensued was an unusual sequence of events:

• The Jaguars announced they dismissed Bradley about 2 hours after the game ended.
• Gus Bradley took the flight home with the rest of the team and staff.
• Jaguars owner Shad Khan released a statement about the move, including a line about letting Bradley get home and spend time with his family during the holidays.

"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 great respect for him, as do I.Gus also represented the Jaguars, the Jacksonville community and the NFL in nothing less than a first-class manner as our head coach. That counts for a lot. It is unfortunately evident that we must make a change. I thought it would be best to do it immediately after today’s result so Gus can step away, relax and regroup with his family during the Christmas and holiday season.Dave Caldwell agreed and will now be charged with exploring all options to hire the best head coach possible to lead what I feel is an extremely talented team and reward a very loyal and patient fan base in Jacksonville."

Clearly there’s a lot of mutual respect between Bradley, David Caldwell, Khan, and all the coaches and players.

The same can be said about the local media in Jacksonville, as Bradley gave them probably the most insightful half-hour press conference you will ever see from a fired head coach.

This obviously didn’t work out for Bradley in Jacksonville, but he’s a stand-up guy who is deservedly getting a respectful exit despite his shortcomings as a coach. Best of luck to him as finds a new way to be involved with football.