Jacksonville Jaguars beat themselves in loss to Chiefs
By Luke Sims
The Jacksonville Jaguars looked rejuvenated but still couldn’t do enough to overcome mistakes on offense and special teams and beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
An early fumble by Bryan Walters on a punt return began a series of mistakes across the game that ruined a close game for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
T.J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory both fumbled, the latter in the end zone, and Blake Bortles added an interception. Jason Myers also missed a field goal in a close 14-19 loss.
It was the kind of game that saw the Jaguars overperform but still struggle. It was a return to form for the offense with mistakes that amounted to 16 of the Chiefs’ 19 points.
The final drive by the Jaguars was a turnover on downs with Bortles missing on a connection with Walters, bringing the game full circle. It was another game the Jags came close to coming back from, mirroring the Week 1 loss on a fourth down pass against the Green Bay Packers. This one felt worse, though.
The game felt worse because on paper things seemed to break in favor of the Jags. The defense held the Chiefs to an abysmal 10 first downs and 1/14 on third down. They out-gained the Chiefs 449 to 231. Chris Ivory became the first 100 yard rusher for the Jags in 16 games.
Things were clicking but the mistakes proved too much to overcome.
Hopefully the game was a sign of positive things to come, especially in the wake of Greg Olson’s dismissal and Nathaniel Hackett’s rise to offensive coordinator. The Jags looked like a much better team in spite of the mistakes.
Getting up to .500 just got harder for the Jags as they drop to 2-6 on the season. They’ll have to do much better in almost every single game over the second half if head coach Gus Bradley wants to keep his job.