5 Observations From Jaguars' 33-25 Loss to the Bengals: Defensive Struggles Continue

Another week in the books, another Jacksonville Jaguars loss in a game they should have won. Unfortunately for the Jaguars, Week 4 went much like the two weeks beforehand, and the Jaguars left without the win.

But what are the biggest takeaways from the 33-25 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals? Why are the Jaguars 1-3 instead of 2-2? We break it down below.

The offense isn't flawless, but it also isn't the problem.

Nobody can make the argument that Jacksonville's offensive is flawless, or even at its full potential. It still makes plenty of mistakes, such as Gardner Minshew's tipped interception on the first drive of the game, James O'Shaughnessy's holding that negated James Robinson's 40-yard run, and of course Tyler Eifert's drop at the five-yard line on the final play of the third quarter. But even with those mistakes, Jacksonville's offense is still scoring 23.75 points per game. On Sunday, it scored 25 points against a winless Bengals team with a rookie quarterback. That should have been enough.

Jacksonville has a lot of areas they need to clean up on offense. They have struggled on third down over the last two weeks, converting only 5-of-20 third down attempts. But at the end of the day the Jaguars offense is so far ahead of its defense that you can't possibly justify pointing the finger at Minshew and company for the 1-3 start. Whenever a team loses, they lose as a team. The offense certainly had its hand in Sunday's loss. They are not blameless. But offense isn't the biggest problem with this Jaguars team ... not today.

The Jaguars can't trust Todd Wash to fix the defense. Not anymore.

Over the last two games, the Jaguars have allowed 64 points, 51 first downs and 743 yards. That is an average of 32 points, 25.5 first downs and 371.5 yards per game. The kicker is these performances have come against teams who currently have 2-5-1. The Jaguars' defense has been shredded by a career journeyman in Ryan Fitzpatrick and a rookie quarterback in Joe Burrow. Frankly nothing has gone right for the defense during the losing streak, but the last two weeks alone have shown why there can't be much confidence the Jaguars will improve under Todd Wash.

Wash led terrific units in 2017 and 2018 and his 2019 defense had a knack for getting to the quarterback. But so far in 2020, the Jaguars' defense has struggled in every area. Receivers run open, running backs make big plays and the quarterbacks remain upright. The issues that have plagued the Jaguars dating back to the last several years continue to show up each Sunday, and making it past time to accept the Jaguars can't rely on Todd Wash to fix the defense.

DJ Chark's importance should never be questioned again.

One week after the Jaguars' offense faltered against a bad Dolphins defense, the Jaguars got right back on track and put up plenty of yards, points and first downs. The biggest X-factor in the improvement over just a week? The presence of DJ Chark, who missed Week 3 with a chest/back injury. Chark was Jacksonville's best player on Sunday, catching eight passes for 95 yards and two touchdowns. No matter who the Bengals put on him, he got open and he converted the catch.

DJ Chark's route and catch graph: https://t.co/te0TQgkJAW pic.twitter.com/7CVkLxoVqN
— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) October 5, 2020

When Chark was ruled out against the Dolphins, the thought was that Jacksonville's receiver group was deep enough to offset the loss to an extent. This proved to be false, and Sunday once again showed why Chark is Jacksonville's most dangerous offensive weapon and the engine that makes the offense go.

The worst is yet to come for Jacksonville's schedule.

The scary part about the last two games? They were supposed to be the easy part of Jacksonville's schedule. Once the Jaguars get past two more teams with losing records in the Houston Texans and Detroit Lions over the next two weeks, the Jaguars' schedule is set to get much, much tougher. For a young Jaguars team that is currently stacking up injuries, this is a bad omen.

After a Week 7 bye, here are some of the next teams the Jaguars have to prepare for. It ... it is not a pretty list.

A Los Angeles Chargers team with a supremely talented rookie quarterback in Justin Herbert.
The Packers and MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns in back-to-back weeks.
The Tennessee Titans.
2019 MVP Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.

Marrone's two-point call was fine. A few other calls were more questionable.

I understand why so many people were against Doug Marrone going for two points in the fourth quarter. The Jaguars were down by eight at the time, and an easy extra point would have put the Jaguars within seven. But honestly, there was zero way the Jaguars were winning the game in regulation -- not with that defense. As a result, the Jaguars' best chance to win was truly to get within six and then force a stop before another score. It was bad execution, but it was the right move to win the game.

But the field goal attempt on fourth-and-2 on the second drive of the game was one call in which Marrone went way too conservative. With his fourth kicker in three weeks, Marrone had Aldrick Rosas attempt a 48-yard field goal which would miss. Marrone should have ran it with James Robinson or thrown a quick pass to DJ Chark. The defense had just gotten a three-and-out and the offense needed to rebound after a turnover.

Then in the second quarter, Marrone and the Jaguars had the ball at the two-yard line. The clock was winding down, with the spike coming at just six seconds and giving the Jaguars fourth-and-inches. I understand why Marrone kicked it to go up 13-10 at halftime, but this is a team with zero margins of error. They need to maximize how many points they can get at all times, and there was nothing to suggest they couldn't get a touchdown on the goal line against a struggling Bengals defense.

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