If Sunday's 24-12 Jaguars Loss Was Part of a Two-Game Audition, It Failed in Multiple Ways

With this past week bringing one giant change for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the form of executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin being ousted from the canals of TIAA Bank Field, the next question is what is next.

A report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network early Sunday indicated that what might actually come next is the opposite of change. Instead, Rapoport suggested head coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell could keep their jobs in 2020. A big part of this happening, Rapoport said, would be Jacksonville ending 2019 on a high note.

After a massive move this week, the #Jaguars changes could be limited to Tom Coughlin’s firing ... assuming the next two weeks go well. My story on what’s next in Jacksonville: https://t.co/0fksdT5efj
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 22, 2019

Well, the first part of Jacksonville's presumed two-game audition ended in an inauspicious manner as the Jaguars fell 24-12 to the Atlanta Falcons to drop to 5-10 on the season. Not only did Jacksonville lose to Atlanta in a game where they made mistake after mistake, but they did little to provide an argument for continuity next season.

"I think that we have to enjoy our time together because you never know what happens in this league and in a week we have one more opportunity with the guys in this locker room to go back to Jacksonville and get focused with the holidays coming up," Marrone said after the game. "After that whatever happens, happens.”

Jacksonville was outcoached and outplayed on Sunday. Jacksonville had on;y 21 passing yards at halftime, a rookie kick returner fumbled for the second time in the past five weeks to help the Falcons take a 14-0 lead before Jacksonville even snapped the ball on offense, and the defense failed to slow down Matt Ryan, allowing him to start nine-for-nine.

“We weren’t able to get anything done and didn’t recover from that. We should have probably gone a bit more vertical. They were squatting us early on," Marrone said.

"Next thing you know, it's 14 nothing and your offense hasn’t touched the ball yet. It’s tough. When that stuff goes on its tough and I look at that as my responsibility to make sure the players are ready and obviously, we didn’t do a good enough job."

But it wasn't just a poor coaching job that made it difficult for Jacksonville to make it a competitive game against a sub-.500 Falcons team. The Jaguars played hard for all four quarters, so there is zero doubt they are still playing for Marrone. But Jacksonville simply didn't look like it was on Atlanta's level when it came to the quality of the football players on the field, which is concerning when you consider the fact that Atlanta has been a disappointment this season.

Making any decision based off of a two-game sample size wouldn't make much sense, but it is likely Jaguars owner Shad Khan already knows this. Chances are Khan already knows exactly what move he wants to make with Marrone and Caldwell. He didn't indicate one way or another what the move would be when he put out a statement regarding Coughlin's firing because that situation was solely about Coughlin.

For all we know, Khan's mind may have been made up weeks ago and these final weeks of the season mean nothing in the grand scheme.

But if these two games are pivotal to what Jacksonville does following the 2019 season, then Sunday did little to add to the argument that the status quo should not change. Instead, it built a stronger case for even more changes to be made.

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