The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to clean house after the regular season ends. While there's a slim chance Doug Pederson could stay beyond 2024, signs point toward him getting his walking papers. He's aware of that reality and discussed it ahead of the Week 18 game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Pederson met with the local media ahead of the finale and said that this was a trying season, noting that it's one of the most difficult ones he's had to navigate in his coaching career.
"This one was tough. It was tough just to maintain the focus and the drive and each week be competitive and still give ourselves opportunities to win games," Pederson said when asked if this was one of the thoughest seasons he's endured as a head coach. "And on top of that, nine of the 12 one-score losses. It's just something that we've got to focus on and push through that barrier. Once you do,
you learn how to win, and then you'd be better for it."
Later in the exchange, Pederson said that he doesn't listen to outside noise, and if he's coaching his last game with the Jags in Week 18, he'll leave walking tall and knowing he had a productive
"I don't listen to it. I don't I don't subject myself to reading. I don't get the notifications on my phone things like that, or your friends telling my wife, oh, you see what they said today. Like, 'Why did you say that?' type thing. But it gets hard. It's hard to keep your family in a bubble. They're outside of these, walls, and they see it here every day," Pederson responded when asked how he keeps his job security, or lack thereof from affecting his loved ones.
Pederson continued, "I'll tell you this, if it wasn't for probably our faith and being grounded there, right then, you can cower under just about anything, any stress, and anything that kind of weighs you down. As a family, we choose, we choose god, to let it bother us. They get mad at it, just like I do sometimes when they tell me about it."
"But look, we've been around this league almost 30 years, player and coach, and we've seen a lot of things and if this is the last one, then I can look back and go, Hey, it's a great run. You had a chance to do a lot of great things. You had a chance to win a Super Bowl. You've coached some great players. You played in this league for a long time."
Pederson spent five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. After a one-year hiatus, he became the head coach of the Jaguars in 2022 and had immediate success, taking the team to the playoffs and winning the AFC South. Unfortunately, Jacksonville hasn't had as much success the past two seasons.
After starting 8-3 in 2023, the Jags won just one of their last six games and failed to qualify for the postseason. Expected to bounce back this season, they took yet another step back.
Heading into the finale, Jacksonville is 4-12. Regardless of the outcome, Pederson is expected to get the boot.
Why the Jaguars must move on from Doug Pederson
There's no doubt that Doug Pederson helped the Jacksonville Jaguars recover from the Urban Meyer fiasco and had a positive impact early on. However, he has delivered diminished results later in his tenure as the head coach. And that's the thing, teams are always going to experience adversity, and progress isn't linear. However, the Jags have gotten worse.
More often than not, Pederson has failed to get the most out of his team, and when the Jags have had a chance to either go toe-to-toe with a contender or seize on a favorable matchup, they came up short. Granted, the Jags have played a bit better later in the season it may be too little too late. Moreover, their wins have come against bottom-tier teams, and that must also be taken into account.
While owner Shad Khan has been silent on the subject, he'll need to act swiftly if he wants to steer the ship in the right direction. He's given Pederson ample time to turn things around and he's failed to deliver. That's why moving on from him now than a year too late is the best course of action.
Doug Pederson knows it, and he's bracing himself for the worst-case scenario after the season finale.