Why 49ers Present Unique Challenge for the Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars are coming into a crucial Week 4 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. Head Coach Liam Coen has led his new team to a 2-1 start in the 2025 NFL season, but they're still far from established contenders this year. They've shown plenty of promising signs through three games, but they've also revealed some ugly warts that need correcting moving forward.

Last year, Coen said it took until Week 4 before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found their groove with him as the offensive coordinator. The Jaguars are hoping they can do the same.

If they can cut down on their penalties, turnovers, and drops, this attack could become elite, smashing even the loftiest expectations laid upon them when they initially hired Coen to take over the team.

San Francisco presents the toughest test that Jacksonville has seen so far. Even with their injuries, the 49ers still have the talent necessary to make life difficult on the Jaguars on both sides of the ball. Coen has his work cut out for him to ensure that his team is properly prepared to try to steal a game on the road and get their first victory on the West Coast in several years.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Trevor Lawrence, San Francisco 49ers, Fred Warner — San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner (54) pressures Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) during the first quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-3. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Unio / USA TODAY NETWORK

How the Jaguars are preparing for the 49ers

One of the bonuses that Head Coach Liam Coen brings to the Jacksonville Jaguars is his experience. While he's only been in the NFL for a short time, he can utilize the knowledge he picked up last season as offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That especially rings true in any matchups the Jaguars have with the Bucs' direct opponents from 2024, including the San Francisco 49ers. Coen believes that his team also benefits from beating the Houston Texans last week, as Jacksonville's next opponent has a lot of similarities to their last one:

"Not just structurally, but the way they play. Their style of play is very similar to the group in Houston that we just played, and so from a mindset, you know, going into it before you even turn the tape on, it's going to be a physical, violent football game, and that's got to be our mindset going into every week. But especially these games that you know what their intent is in all three phases, which is to play physical and violent and get after you, and what we have to do to continue to take those steps as a team."

A look at the game winning drive against the Buccaneers…

Brock Purdy on the drive was 4-5 for 39 yards, and his only incompletion was the spike to stop the clock with 3 seconds left pic.twitter.com/lE5A4UxhLw
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) November 10, 2024

Coen expressed that his experience against the Niners during his time with the Bucs and Los Angeles Rams will be invaluable, but he also can't bank on it too much:

"We played them last year in Tampa, so there are definitely some things you can draw back on a little, but also every year is a new year. Every team's a new team, and it's just definitely interesting that you play them twice a year in LA, so you get to kind of know each other, what are the routes that we like against their coverages, but then they also start to see those and combat that and so it's that chess match really in all three phases that we can kind of draw back on some experience, but try not to look too far behind."

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