Are the Jaguars Stuck Between Short-Term and Long-Term Problems?

When the Jacksonville Jaguars cleaned house after the 2012 season, the organization was hitting a clear reset button. The hope would be to build up the team over the next few seasons and hope that with good drafting and development of players, the wins would start to pour in.

Fast forward to the second half of the 2019 season, and the wins still haven't come. After the Jaguars put forth a completely flat performance against the Indianapolis Colts during a 33-13 loss on Sunday, it may be time to wonder if the wins ever will with the current regime.

Consider this: since Dave Caldwell was hired as the team's general manager before the 2013 season, the Jaguars have a record of 34-72. It is now the seventh year of his tenure.

When that far deep into a regime's stay, one would expect the team to start seeing improvement. Instead, the Jaguars are 4-6 and have lost their last two games, each to division opponents, by a combined score of 59-16.

Since Doug Marrone took over as the team's full-time head coach and Tom Coughlin stepped in to lead the team's front office as its executive vice president of football operations before the 2017 season, Jacksonville is 19-28 in the regular season. 10 of those wins came in 2017, so Jacksonville is a staggering 9-17 over the past two seasons.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan stayed committed to Caldwell, Marrone, and Coughlin following a disaster 2018 season, with the hope that a season without injuries and improved quarterback play would help the team get back to the playoffs like it was in 2017. A season removed from that decision, it is now worth wondering which of the trio will be around to help the Jaguars rebound in 2020.

Jacksonville signed Nick Foles to a four-year, $88 million contract this offseason with the hope that he could provide a long-term solution to a trio facing short-term problems. The Jaguars' offensive line was mediocre and the weapons around the quarterback were not much better, but the hope was that Foles would step in and elevate the play of those around him and mask the Jaguars' issues.

Against the Colts on Sunday, no issues were masked. Foles didn't exacerbate many of the team's issues during his uneven performance in Indy, but he didn't provide a bandaid fix to things like the Jaguars were likely hoping he would.

The Jaguars' decision-makers were in a long-term thinking process when they signed Foles, despite the team being in a win-now, short-term solution state. Jacksonville must remain committed to Foles for the next few seasons at least due to his massive contract, but the reality is if Jacksonville does not stack up wins over the next six games that some of those who decided to pay him will not be around to see him finish out that contract.

Jacksonville's front office and coaching staff swung for the fences when they signed Foles. On Sunday, he hit a solid single. If he can't produce the way his contract says he needs to be able to over the final month-and-a-half of the season, Jacksonville will have short-term and long-term questions to once again answer.

Seven years into one leaders tenure and three years into two others, the Jaguars should be trending upward instead of downward. The team made one giant long-term investment this offseason despite those making decisions potentially being on short-term leashes. Because of that, and due to other decisions made by the team in the past (looking at Blake Bortles' extension), the Jaguars find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The Jaguars need to see drastic improvement over the next six games or else wholesale changes may be in line. If those changes do occur, whoever steps in next would have to find ways to make things work with the pieces given to them by the decision-makers before them.

Despite having their $88 million man under center on Sunday and the entire defense sans Marcell Dareus healthy on defense, the Jaguars failed to show up vs. the Colts. When the team lays an egg the way Jacksonville did on Sunday, long-term and short-term questions need to be answered. Why is the team not prepared to play in such a big game? Why did the offense not improve at all with the veteran quarterback? Why has the defense regressed so mightily each year since 2017?

All is certainly not lost. Jacksonville has six games left and crazier things have happened than a 4-6 team making a run. But the roster is flawed and too often has failed to show up on Sundays in 2019. If this trend continues, Jacksonville will need to explore all options to find their way back to success, both in the short and long-term.