Old Urban Meyer Graphic About 'Criteria for Struggling Teams' Goes Viral

Urban Meyer's first year in the NFL has left a lot to be desired. After a 20–0 loss to the Titans on Sunday, the Jaguars are just 2–11.

Meyer, who had been out of coaching since 2018—his final season at Ohio State— when he took the Jacksonville job, has been under fire throughout his brief tenure.

In the offseason, the team had its brief dance with retired-quarterback-turned-tight-end Tim Tebow. Midway through the season, Meyer found himself under considerable scrutiny after a video emerged of his dancing with a young woman at a Columbus, Ohio–area bar. The video was filmed after the Jaguars' loss at the Bengals when Meyer skipped the team flight back to Florida to attend the event.

Last week, reports emerged that Meyer blew up at his assistant coaches, calling them "losers" and "forcing them to defend their résumés." Even typically mild-mannered Trevor Lawrence publicly took issue with the Jags' limited use of running back James Robinson, saying he “has to be on the field.”

After the loss to the Titans, the embattled coach barely acknowledged Mike Vrabel, his former assistant at Ohio State, and had a one-on-one meeting with owner Shad Khan after the game, which doesn't seem like a great sign.

When Meyer was hired, a lot was said about how he'd reform the "locker-room culture" in Jacksonville. On Sunday afternoon, Sports Illustrated's Richard Johnson shared a screenshot from Meyer's time at Fox Sports, where he shared his three "criteria to examine for struggling teams." It certainly looks as if the Jaguars are three-for-three here.

“Every time I've had a team struggle, it's fallen into one of three categories,” Meyer said on Fox in November 2020. "Number one: There's some trust issue. The players don't trust the coach, the coach don't trust the players or awful when the players don't trust each other. Number two: It's called a dysfunctional work environment where the expectations are very high, but we don't work hard. The coach has to be really clear with his team, say, ‘Wait a minute, that's going to lead to frustration, anger, disappointment because we want to win a championship. I got news, guys, we're not working hard, so stop with the ... expectations.‘ Your work ethic must exceed or equate your expectations. That's a good environment.

“And the last one is real obvious. You've got a selfish team, man. You got problems on your team. Football is an unselfish sport. That means you have to do the nasty. That means I'm a running back; I have to go protect for my quarterback. You don't always get to carry the ball. Sometimes you have to run down a kickoff 22 miles per hour and throw yourself at someone running 15 miles per hour the other way. That's not fun, why would you do that? Because you love your team and your teammates.”

Meyer says he doesn't believe these issues usually stem from players or coaches and offered one last bit of advice that now, more than a year later, he may need to revisit himself.

“There's something wrong. Lift the hood, find out,“ Meyer said. “One of those three things is usually the reason.”

Time will tell what Meyer finds when he lifts the hood of a Jaguars team that certainly appears to have potential trust issues and, if the report about his berating his assistants is accurate, a dysfunctional environment, if not all three of these issues.