By Candy Ebling
The Jags, who are playing for pride and jobs in the future, opened the game against the Bears driving the ball down the field only to get three points out of it. Don’t get me wrong, they scored, but in this game, where the Bears are hungry and have playoff implications, they needed to do more if they wanted to win. The Jags are playing for respect and for their jobs for next year, whether it be here in Jacksonville or auditioning for somewhere else. The Jaguars also accomplished something by losing 41-17. They secured the 1st pick of the draft.
There were 17,445 fans in the stands to see this one and early on you thought it was Soldier Field South as the cheers were loud when the Bears first scored. Were they all Bears fans this day? No, but with the Number One Pick in the draft on the line for the Jaguars, some Jaguars fans cheered for the Bears to score and win the game.
The Bears needed to win both the game against the Jaguars and the next one in Green Bay to secure a spot in the playoffs, so they needed this game to take care of business. The Bears did just that, they took care of business. The Jags hung tight in the first half but the Bears took over in the second half. The Bears, who this season have typically had horrible third quarters, pulled away from the Jaguars scoring 21 unanswered points and set the tone for the final half in the third quarter.
In the last off-season, the Jags traded away QB Nick Foles to the Chicago Bears. Where are both teams now? Hindsight is always 20/20, but let’s look at the trade for a moment and see who made out best. Nick Foles comes in at garbage time 8:30 left in the fourth quarter with a score of Bears 41 – Jags 10 and goes 0/1. He’s been in eight games this year and has 10 touchdowns to eight interceptions, but has been relegated to backup duty to Mitchell Trubisky. The Jags meanwhile, have been back and forth between Quarterbacks Gardner Minshew II and former Chicago Bears QB Mike Glennon. Week 16 and Coach Doug Marrone didn’t name the starter till late in the week. Mike Glennon got the nod against his old team. As for the Jags with the fourth round pick that they got for Foles, they picked linebacker Shaquille Quarterman, who has played in 10 games and has four tackles with an assist.
Picture taken by Candy Ebling
Mitchell Trubisky has also played in eight games this year but has 16 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He finished the game on 24/35 with 265 yards in the air and added two carries for 10 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and ran in himself for another. Mitchell also had one fumble and an interception. He needs to play better if he’s going to beat Green Bay, which they need to do to make it to the playoffs.
So it seems for two teams that have been undecided at the quarterback position this year and have started at least two different QBs during the season, that they both have found answers, one is on their team (Chicago and Trubisky), the other (Jaguars) it’s time to take the No.1 draft pick and go out and get their future star franchise quarterback.
To summarize the Jags this year, they do enough to make it interesting, at least most games, but not enough to win. During the Bears game they played this way for half of the game, the first half trailing 13-10. At the end of the game, the Jags lost not only in final score (which is the most important) but in total yards 391-279, yards rushing 128-76, yards passing 263-203, time of possession 33:00 – 27:00, and turnovers 1-2. The only category that they did win was Penalties, which is a category that you don’t want to have the most in but 10 – 115, compared to the Bears 4-40. If you’d ask a lot of the fans of Jacksonville, at least at this point, what’s the point in winning, let’s lose so we can assure ourselves of the first pick in the draft, and today they secured that fact, along with the help of the Jets winning another game. The Jaguars also set a franchise record by losing their 14th consecutive game and locked up the top pick for the first time in franchise history, which dates back to 1995.
Welcome to the Sunshine State Trevor Lawrence!
Trevor Lawrence, we hope you like sunshine and a state with no income taxes, cause the Jacksonville Jaguars have the first pick and desperately need a quarterback that will take them places. One that will bring energy and talent, one that will hopefully spark more interest and more talent to a franchise that desperately needs it and has a fan base that is hungry for a better result on the field.
The Jags had the youngest roster in the NFL this year, experience does make a difference.
The Jaguars will have a very different look next year.
On November 29th, they fired GM Dave Caldwell. It is very likely that Doug Marrone will be next to exit Jacksonville, along with many if not all of his coaching staff. This would mean next year, the Jags would have a new GM, a new head coach, and a new coaching staff. So we would start with new fresh minds on top and continue to build. The Jags had 10 picks in last year’s draft and this year, besides having the number one draft pick they have 11 more draft picks with five total picks in the top 75.
Depending on where the league ends up dropping the salary cap after the Covid-19 affected season, it’s expected that the Jaguars will end up with around $80 million in cap space for 2021.
Considering the cap space, the draft picks, the young team, sunshine and warm weather, and no state income tax, the GM job and Head Coaching Job should be extremely attractive, some would even say ‘A Dream Job’. A Chance for new blood to take a young team and new draft picks, and mold and coach them to be successful.
The Jaguars have everything to gain and their outlook is bright. It might take more than a year, but give them a couple of years and watch out NFL.
Jacksonville will be Electric!
