What’s Next? Jacksonville Jaguars must finish strong
By Luke Sims
The Jacksonville Jaguars have just a 9-30 record under head coach Gus Bradley.
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That, frankly, is an abysmal record for any head coach and a particularly painful barb in the sides of many fans. While the team does look far more competitive than it was three seasons ago, it still isn’t quite over the hump and has been embroiled in weighing whether head coach Gus Bradley is deserving to remain as head coach.
With the Jaguars reportedly fine with Bradley not only for this year but for next year as well, it is worth looking toward the positives of Bradley’s tenure.
While Gus Bradley’s team has become almost infamous for its late-game collapses, his season endings have been far superior.
In the last nine games of the season, Gus Bradley has a 6-12 record. If we look at the last eight games of his two seasons with the Jaguars, he is 6-10.
With some beatable teams on the horizon for the Jacksonville Jaguars (i.e. the entire AFC South), Bradley’s focus should be on finishing strong once again. He finds ways to motivate his unit later in the year and those wins were hard fought and well deserved.
As it is year three of a massive rebuild, it is worth weighing just how successful a late-season push will be for the Jaguars on the whole. Is it going to be enough to spur more wins in 2016? We all hoped this would be the case when the Jags finished 4-4 in 2013 but saw that hope collapse with six straight losses to open 2014.
Bradley’s team has, for whatever reason, finished the year significantly better than it has started it. He will need that to happen again as he keeps his eyes on establishing a competitive unit in year four of the rebuild.
Year three was supposed to be the year the Jacksonville Jaguars could compete through and through. Unfortunately, the first seven games leave the team at 2-5. If they can finish strong with a handful of wins in the final nine games the season will look much, much better.