LONDON — The Jacksonville Jaguars have had some shockers and no-shows in London. Sunday’s 35-16 defeat to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham may very well be the worst.
A richly assembled roster, hailed by owner Shahid Khan as the best in franchise history in training camp, is now 1-5 and sitting in last place in the AFC South.
There is more a whimper than a roar surrounding this team, with self-inflicted wounds snowballing on Jacksonville. On Sunday, the Jaguars had four dropped touchdown passes, two fumbles (one lost), two turnovers and eight penalties, many of them coming at exactly the wrong time.
Coach Doug Pederson jetted into the annual trip to their home away from home under severe pressure. It’s fair to say that has cranked up a notch.
He revealed he had spoken to Khan in the aftermath of this defeat and still has his backing. “I do. I was just with him and I do,” he said.
But there is no room for further error. Pederson acknowledged the Jaguars are firmly in win-now mode.
“I think so. I would say everything here on out, quite frankly,” he said. “If we want to get back to playing the type of football we know we can play, you’re going to have to win a lot of games moving forward. I would say that, yeah, these games moving forward are just that.
“We have to figure out how to just get out of our way and just play football. I say that, and it sounds easy, but it’s tough. It’s a tough game to play. We didn’t expect to be here in this spot, and, hey, now we have to find a way to get out of it.”
GO DEEPER
NFL Week 6 takeaways: Another Lamar Jackson MVP season? How high can Bears climb?
The Jaguars were forced to delay their flight to England by four hours because of Hurricane Milton, and rearranged a Friday practice for Saturday at The Grove, their base in Hertfordshire for their nine-night overseas stay.
Pederson insisted the upheaval had no bearing on the result.
The Jaguars have played 12 times in London with a 6-6 record since 2013. Their English debut was a 42-10 pounding by the Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers. It was followed up by another abject loss to the Dallas Cowboys the following year. And few can forget 2019’s 27-3 loss to the Houston Texans.
But given the roster at Pederson’s disposal and the manner of this defeat — his team’s 10th in its last 12 games — this is the kind of error-strewn afternoon that normally results in consequences.
Last week, Robert Saleh was fired by the New York Jets after their loss to Minnesota at Tottenham. He joined Dennis Allen (2014) and Joe Philbin (2015) as head coaches who were sacked immediately after defeat in London. Khan has shown patience with his underachieving franchise but has dispensed with three head coaches — Gus Bradley, Doug Marrone and Urban Meyer — during his reign.
Pederson placed the blame on the collective rather than individuals.
Jacksonville’s opening drive was stunted by two delay-of-game penalties in Chicago’s red zone. Gabe Davis dropped the first of two catchable passes in the end zone and the Jags had to settle for a field goal.
Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams helped Chicago take a 14-3 lead at halftime. Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards punched the ball out of tight end Evan Engram’s grasp for a fumble. Safety Elijah Hicks recovered and within the blink of an eye, Williams tossed his third touchdown of the afternoon and the Jags trailed 21-3.
Now THAT’s a fumble@ELITHEMAN1 comes up with it! pic.twitter.com/owatSikTPE
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 13, 2024
Yet there were still signs of life. On the next drive, quarterback Trevor Lawrence connected with Davis for a score to cut the deficit to 21-10. Jacksonville desperately needed a defensive stop.
Sure enough, Josh Hines-Allen and Esezi Otomewo sacked Williams on first down. Then, on third down, Travon Walker bull-rushed through Chicago’s offensive line and threw Williams to the turf for a 10-yard loss. But the sack was negated by another error. This one was the dagger.
“We had the 12 men on the field, and there was a substitution change. I put that on us as coaches. That’s on us,” Pederson said. “So, everybody has a piece of this. It’s not just coaching, not just players. It’s all of us, and that’s where it has to start.”
Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said he still has the confidence of owner Shahid Khan, but time is running out to turn the season around. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Williams threw to Keenan Allen for another touchdown, and that pretty much was that.
After rewarding Lawrence with a $55 million-a-year contract extension in June, Jacksonville has amassed 97 points — 16.2 a game. Lawrence was not at fault for the four dropped touchdown passes, but this is a team that is misfiring on all cylinders.
On its opening drive, a promising one that saw Lawrence look at ease while connecting with four targets, Jacksonville was stalled by two false starts in the red zone. The Jaguars walked away with three points rather than seven after Davis dropped Lawrence’s pass in the end zone. It set the tone.
GO DEEPER
How Bears QB Caleb Williams bounced back from an early INT to put on a show in London
“It’s football. That happens,” Lawrence said. “You want those guys to catch every ball, and that would be great, and they want to catch every ball. That’s just not this game. You’re going to make mistakes, and stuff is going to happen.
“I think as a team we can’t be so fragile. It’s like it’s not going to go perfect every week. Most weeks aren’t going to go perfect. You’re going to have to sometimes dig yourself out of a hole. We got down in the second quarter and had an opportunity to come out of halftime and didn’t take advantage of it.”
.@ChicagoBears with the INT ‼️
📺: #JAXvsCHI on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/OUzRy2dj9a— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
Is the team fighting for Pederson?
“Yeah, that’s our head coach, and we’re a team,” Lawrence said. “This is tough. Losing is hard. It’s hard. So it has nothing to do with that relationship, how we feel about Coach. We’re a group. We’re staying together.
“We know brighter days are ahead. … We’re not playing good team football right now. So whatever the answer to that is we have to find it quick.”
On the other side of the ball, despite back-to-back three-and-outs to start the game — the first time this season Jacksonville did not concede a touchdown on its opponents’ opening drive — and safety Andre Cisco intercepting a Williams pass, the pass rush seldom pressured Williams, the secondary struggled and the plan to contain Williams did not work.
Before the game, the Jags were ranked 31st on defense, 32nd against the pass and 30th in points allowed. Those grim statistics will look worse on Monday morning.
The reasons for the defensive woes?
“Penalties, not getting off the field,” Hines-Allen said. “Things that we’ve been struggling with all year. Then the penalties we kept them on the field for one drive with three penalties and ended up eventually scoring. So being ourselves as well, we have to correct those.”
GO DEEPER
Greenberg: Caleb Williams, Bears showing that a new day is dawning in Chicago
The Jaguars will have a long week in England to get to work. The New England Patriots fly in on Friday for a battle of 1-5 teams at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. After that is a brutal stretch, with the Packers, Vikings, Eagles, Lions and Texans on the horizon.
Pederson has quite the job on his hands.
(Photo of Gabe Davis and Elijah Hicks: Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
