Why Liam Coen Will Have to Adjust in the Playoffs

Liam Coen put together a damned good case for the 2025 NFL Coach of the Year. In one season, he brought the Jacksonville Jaguars from a four-win team to an AFC South title at 13-4. Considering the immense success he's already had, it's easy to forget that this is his first campaign as a head coach in this league.

No one has ever done what Coen did this past season, literally. He made history this year as the only head coach in the NFL annals to take a team from four wins to over 12 in his first campaign. Now, he's gearing up for his first-ever playoffs in this position. Postseason football is a different animal, and Coen has to be prepared for all of the distinctions.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Tennessee Titans, Head Coach Liam Coen, Parker Washington — Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Parker Washington (11) walks off the field after a hit as head coach Liam Coen looks on during the second quarter of an NFL football matchup at EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars defeated the Titans 41-7, capturing the AFC South title. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Bills will be prepared for Liam Coen's aggressiveness

Head Coach Liam Coen made it clear that he's willing to be aggressive with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In the 2025 NFL season, his team saw 124 fourth downs on offense. He went for it on 29 of them, or just under 24 percent. For comparison, Dan Campbell with the Detroit Lions, who's commonly cited as one of the league's pioneers in going for it on fourth down, had a go-rate of 25.6 percent this year.

Coen has mostly been rewarded for his gung-ho approach, as his Jaguars converted on nearly 59 percent of their fourth-down attempts. That's not the only way he's been tenacious in his decision-making, though. Cam Little tried two field goals from 60+ yards out, more than anyone other than the Dallas Cowboys' Brandon Aubrey. He drilled both of them. With the heightened stakes of the playoffs, everyone is more aggressive, though. Liam Coen recognizes that opposing teams will be more prepared for his bravado:

“hindsight probably should’ve kicked it.”

but also

“we’ve gotta be able to gain a freaking yard”

great insight into the mind of Coach Coen on the decision to go for it on almost 4th & 2 when the #Jaguars were tied.@ActionSportsJax pic.twitter.com/ToXCtxQrKU
— Jason Hamby (@Jason_Hamby14) December 28, 2025

"I mean, look, you're trying to win this game, and so you can't think about the next one. You can't think about what if or what could happen if we don't. I think it's just, look, the flow of the game always kind of dictates what you're going to do from a decision-making process... is it a high-scoring game? Do we need every possession we can get? Is it one of those games that look, we're stopping each other when points are hard to come by?"

"So, I don't have any idea where we rank in terms of aggressiveness or anything like that for fourth downs. I know we've tried to be aggressive. But that's going to be a game-time decision with that... okay, coin toss, we talk about the weather. We talk about the stadium, kicking, their kicker versus our kicker. And then obviously the fourth downs... we talk about two-point conversion situations, overtime rules... So, we've had a lot of these conversations, and ultimately it comes down to trusting your gut and trusting the feel from in-game and seeing what's happening."

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