Liam Coen Reveals Biggest Lesson He Learned in First Year as HC

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars reached new heights in 2025, but they had to face some real lows first.

No, the 13-4 Jaguars were never once below .500 in the 2025 season -- an astonishing mark considering the nightmare season the franchise experienced in 2024. But each of the Jaguars' four losses in 2025 was a bitter one, and none were tougher pills to swallow than their final regular-season loss.

Speaking this week on The Pat McAfee Show, Jaguars head coach Liam Coen detailed how the Week 10 loss to the Houston Texans taught him and his team their toughest, but most important, lesson of the year.

Jaguars' biggest Lesson

It is no secret what the Texans loss meant to the Jaguars. Before their last-second loss to the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round, the Week 10 loss in Houston was the last time the Jaguars had lost a game. The blown lead is the worst in franchise history, but Coen has long since said that he believes it helped kick off their eight-game winning streak to end the year.

"Our team knows that we're in this thing together..

We had some real open conversations after we blew that game against the Texans" ~ @LiamCoen #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/7R4zTkbfIp
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 5, 2026

"The Houston debacle was a good thing for us. Like, that's when things changed for us. We lost. We were 20 point lead. Blew it. ... Mills killed us. Two minute drill. Fourth quarter. Lose the game, right? We're sitting there like, damn," Coen said.

"I mean, that was the quietest locker room I've ever been a part of post-game. But that allowed us to go have some real open, honest conversations as a team, with coaches, with players, with the staff and with our whole team. That's when things change. To answer your question is, like, All right, guys, like, that's not good enough at all. We can't be spectators for that last quarter. We got to go play 60 minutes and see what happens."

liam coe — Nov 9, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) on the sidelines during the first half against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

After that loss, the Jaguars caught fire. The Jaguars were 5-4 leaving Houston and finished the year with a 13-4 record and an AFC South title. If not for a select few plays against the Buffalo Bills in the wild card, the Jaguars' winning streak would have extended.

To lead the Jaguars to that kind of season, Coen had to quickly establish what kind of head coach he was going to be. After one season, it is clear Coen found the right mix.

"That is exactly the hardest thing to kind of figure out is like, because I was with Sean, I'm in LA for all those years. You are with Sean, you're with Kevin O'Connell. You were with Zach Taylor. You were with so many good football coaches. And you want to take something from everybody, right, like you do, but you also got to be yourself," Coen said.

"And I think that's the thing that I learned the most obviously throughout this whole process, you're sitting there and you're like, all right, dude, if those players respect me as who I am, like the rest will come. And look, they get criticized in the media all the time, and so, like, if they see their coach kind of doing it and getting it and not flinching, not blinking, hey, we're in this thing together, they'll play harder. They will."

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