Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson offered some advice for what the team needs to do after Sunday’s 35-16 loss to the Bears dropped them to 1-5 on the season, but he might not be happy if the team takes him up on it.
Team owner Shad Khan gave Pederson and General Manager Trent Baalke a show of support in an interview ahead of the Jaguars’ first of two London games, but the team’s performance against Chicago led safety Andre Cisco to say that he thinks a lot of his teammates quit during the game. Pederson said that he feels the players “don’t quit,” but agreed that the team is at a tipping point and that they can’t keep doing the same thing over and over.
“We play a 17-game schedule, so we’ve got a few more games left,” Pederson said, via Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com. “Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to change. I say we, it’s all of us — coaches, players, everybody. We’ve got to change right now that culture. Otherwise, it just gets out of control. We’re on a slippery slope, or right on the cusp of that slope. At some point we’ve got to [say] enough is enough, and you’ve got to have enough pride and figure out a way.”
One of the easiest ways to change the culture of a team is by firing the head coach. Pederson presumably wasn’t suggesting that Khan do that, but the team’s effort on the field might take care of that sooner rather than later.