Jaguars HC Urban Meyer can benefit from latest reality check

Urban Meyer’s tenure as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars isn’t off to a great start. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to turn things around. In fact, the controversy surrounding the video that recently surfaced on social media could be exactly the wake-up call he needed.

By now, you have probably seen the video of Meyer getting frisky with a woman that wasn’t his wife. Instead of flying back with the team after the Jags’ Week 5 loss to the Bengals, he stayed in Ohio to “clear his head”. You could argue that he can do as he pleases in his time off the clock but the truth is that he’s talked about accountability from the moment he got hired. He can’t expect his players to follow his lead if he doesn’t hold himself to high standards.

Meyer says that looking back, he shouldn’t have done it. However, this hasn’t been the only mistake he’s made in his first year as an NFL head coach. When putting together his coaching staff, he thought it was a good idea to hire Chris Doyle as the director of sports performance despite the fact that he had a history of mistreating players and allegations of making racist comments.

You could make the case that either owner Shad Khan or general manager Trent Baalke should have stepped in and dissuaded Meyer from following through in both instances. Moving forward, he has no excuses. He needs to show better judgment and both Khand and Baalke need to assist him in making better decisions. The silver lining is that the head coach now is fully aware of how the NFL operates, and should now have a better grasp of what he can and can’t do.

This could be what Jaguars head coach Urban Mayer needed.

Shad Khan released a statement in which he said Meyer’s behavior was inexcusable” and he would need to earn the team’s trust back. This means that the team won’t move on from him at least for the moment. Instead, they will give him the chance to finish what he started.

If Meyer had traveled back with the team, you wouldn’t be hearing about him being in the hot seat. The Jaguars’ 0-4 record isn’t great but it isn’t surprising when you take into account that the team is in rebuilding mode. Nevertheless, the Jags have shown steady progress over the last few weeks, and could soon turn the corner.

Keep in mind that the Jags hired Meyer because they thought he was the right man to lead their team. Even though they had the opportunity to choose someone with more NFL experience, they went with the former Florida head coach. They surely knew that his transition from college to the pros wasn’t going to be seamless. On the other hand, they probably didn’t expect he would be the subject of controversy because of his off-field behavior.

It’s clear that Meyer needs to make better decisions on and off the field. But if he starts winning games, which is what he was hired to do, this whole incident could be put to rest.