Jaguars: Urban Meyer’s early struggles make recent win more impressive

Urban Meyer’s tenure as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars has not been a smooth one. However, things seem to be looking up after winning two of the last three games. You would think that the chatter about him losing his job would decrease considerably, this writer believes so,  but that doesn’t seem to be the case. At least not according to a recent ranking.

Patrik Walker of CBS Sports recently drew up a list of NFL head coaches that could be on the hot seat. Meyer was one of the five he named. Walker believes that upseting the Buffalo Bills in Week 9 was. He also thinks that putting an end to the Jaguars’ 20-game losing streak a few weeks ago was a good thing. However, he doesn’t believe he’s off the hook just yet.

"Given all he’s already put the Jaguars through, he’s going to need a lot more wins before his seat cools. If there’s a blueprint for how to do everything right when taking the reins as a first-time NFL head coach, you’d have to presume there’s an antithesis that lists steps for virtually guaranteeing you’ll be fired before you get a shot at Year 2. If the latter didn’t exist before, it does now, and Meyer is the author."

Walker goes on to say that everything that could have gone wrong under Meyer has gone wrong. He brings up the video that surfaced about the head coach dancing and the hire of Chris Doyle as the Jaguars’ director of sports performance earlier this year. Both situations are inexcusable but if you think about it, it makes the Jaguars’ recent wins even more praiseworthy. Other coaches that made the cut were Dave Culley (Houston Texans), Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins), Matt Rhule (Carolina Panthers), and Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears).

Urban Meyer has the Jaguars trending up after a rough start.

Meyer has made several mistakes throughout his short stint in Jacksonville. Not flying back with the team and staying in Ohio after the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals reflected poorly on him. After the incident, owner Shad Khan told Meyer he would need to regain the organization’s trust and it looks like that’s precisely what he’s doing.

There’s no denying that bringing in Doyle showed poor judgment but the team took decisive action and quickly moved on from him. Meyer deserves only partial credit for fixing the mistakes he made. But at least he recognized he messed up instead of doubling down. He could have easily tried to justify the hire of Doyle or not hold himself accountable for his actions in Ohio. Instead, he accepted he did wrong and moved on.

Now, Meyer is not off the hook just yet. If he once again shows a lack of judgment or his actions affect the team negatively, the Jaguars should strongly consider moving on from him but if they gave him a chance to earn their trust back and he’s genuinely putting in the effort, he deserves a legitimate shot to make things work. The fact that the Jags have beat the Dolphins and the Bills shows he’s doing something right. If the team collapses in the remainder of the season or fails to improve in Year 2, his seat should definitely get hot. Otherwise, he needs the opportunity to fully implement his vision.

Things haven’t always gone the way Meyer probably expected when he became the Jaguars head coach but the Jaguars’ two recent victories should give fans a reason for optimism. Is up to him to make good decisions and keep racking up wins.