Is Jaguars coach Doug Marrone on the hot seat?

A four-game losing streak and questions about a lack of discipline of his team have some national media questioning whether Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone is on the hot seat.

With all the questions regarding the four straight losses by the Jacksonville Jaguars, it was a question that was bound to come up at some point. Do the recent issues with the team and a lack of offensive output mean head coach Doug Marrone is in jeopardy of losing his job? It’s a question Chris Chase examined on Touchdown Wire via msn.com.

Following a 24-18 loss in London to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the Jaguars head into the bye week with a 3-5 record and in third place in the AFC South. From a team that was supposed to be one of the leading candidates to challenge for a Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl 53 to start the season, the Jaguars are in full free-fall.

When Marrone met with the media on Monday ahead of the team’s bye week, he said everything starts with him and how he has coached the team this season. Before any talk can be made about changes made to his coaching staff, he must first assess the work he has done this season.

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"“The first thing that I have been doing is… right now I have done a poor job. For me, I am still working on evaluating myself first. Where is this team that we have had that everyone believes in? Now, all of a sudden, in the first quarter we were 3-1, we fell short in the third game against Tennessee,” Marrone explained.“Now it is four straight losses. For me, right now, my thought process is that I am not getting the job done and it starts with me. I am looking at myself first before I start looking down the line – the coaches, the players and everything else that is going around. I am not even to that point yet. I am fortunate that we have the bye week to take a little break to get the emotion of what has been going on these last four weeks and make the best decision I can, starting with myself.”"

Marrone and the Jaguars were the feel-good story of 2017, reaching the playoffs for the first time in a decade with a solid run game and a dominant defense. Those two components are not what they were just a year ago. The running game, sans Leonard Fournette, is 25th in the league in yards per game. The defense is still tough but is not the ferocious juggernaut it once was.

The next week will be a time to rest, regroup and reflect. It will hopefully also give this team a chance to change its losing ways. The Jaguars face the Indianapolis Colts on the road before a home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In Chase’s assessment of both the head coach and the Jaguars, he pinpointed how the team has fallen in such a dramatic fashion.

"“It’s not necessarily that the Jags are losing (3-5 after falling to the Eagles in London), it’s how they’re losing. Marrone abandons his so-called power-running game at the most inopportune times. Blake Bortles has regressed, Chase writes.“The heralded Jags defense is banged up, sure, but they’re getting worked over by second-string tight ends. It’s on them, not Bortles. No one expected Blake to do anything but steer the ship into the berth. The defense hasn’t even gotten it to harbor. A bye this week helps but if Jacksonville fails to come away from Indianapolis with a win in two weeks, the team will be in an outright free fall.”"

The Jaguars did play better this past weekend, coming off a 20-7 loss to the Houston Texans at home. The defense sacked Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz four times and created two turnovers. Bortles threw for 286 yards and a touchdown. He did not turn the ball over.

This is a first half of the season the Jaguars and Marrone should be happy to put behind them. Injuries have ravaged the team on offense and have now crept onto the defensive side of the ball. The loss of running back Leonard Fournette has changed offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s approach to game calling.

The offensive line has lost two left tackles. The ACL injury to Cam Robinson was bigger than some may have thought. The Jaguars lost top wide receiver Marqise Lee in the preseason with a knee injury.