Why Moral Victories No Longer Have a Place in Jacksonville

This Jacksonville Jaguars team is far beyond moral victories. They'll take what they need to learn from the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning (6) leaps over the line for a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 2 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025. The Bengals came back from a halftime deficit to win 31-27. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This Jacksonville Jaguars team has a lot of young, inexperienced parts. That extends from their on-field talent to their sideline. Head Coach Liam Coen, Offensive Coordinator Grant Udinski, and Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile are all holding their respective positions for the first time in their NFL careers this season for the Jags.

After 53-man roster cuts, Jacksonville had the 10th-youngest squad in the league, with an average age of 26.04 years. That number jumped a bit after they traded for 31-year-old wideout Tim Patrick and dumped 24-year-old Tank Bigsby, but the point remains.

Between their green coaching staff and relatively youthful depth chart, the Jaguars have the makeup of a rebuilding team. This may be their first year under Liam Coen and within the new system he and his coordinators implemented, but Jacksonville isn't hoping to just show signs of growth this season; they're shooting for the playoffs.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) passes as Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen watches during the Jacksonville Jaguars’ mandatory minicamp Tuesday June 10, 2025 at the Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. [Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union] | Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jaguars won't accept moral victories this year

The Jacksonville Jaguars looked the part of a rebuilding team in Week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals. They showed plenty of encouraging signs, but ultimately came up short, 31-27, falling to 1-1 on the 2025 NFL season. On paper, they nearly pulled off a road upset to move to 2-0 for the first time in the Trevor Lawrence era.

In reality, though, they failed to take advantage of Joe Burrow's first-quarter exit due to a toe injury and lost to Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning for the second time in three years. It's important that Head Coach Liam Coen and his team take the positives they can from this game, but he isn't considering any moral victories this season:

"We're definitely not talking about moral victories here, for sure. We definitely did some really good things in that game, and ultimately, didn't close it out. And that's the frustrating part. You look at red zone on both sides, third downs, executing some of the situational stuff that we probably weren't as clean at, to ultimately go close out your opponent on the road."

"We win, we lose, we compete as a team!" 🗣️#DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/EHReXfhqv4

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) September 15, 2025

"So yeah, we do need to learn how to win as a team in 2025. There's a whole new everything, and every team needs to kind of come together in those moments. And this is a great test for us to be able to see how we respond going into a big divisional game."

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