In a move that’s been a season in the making, the Jacksonville Jaguars wasted no time after blowing a 21-20 game against the Houston Texans and fired head coach Gus Bradley.
Considering how quickly the news came out, less than two hours after the end of the game, Bradley had to be fired either on the plane, on the tarmac or on the team bus. Here’s the statement from Jagaurs’ owner Shad Khan.
I thanked Gus Bradley today for his commitment to the Jacksonville Jaguars over the past four seasons. As anyone close to our team knows, Gus gave his staff and players literally everything he had. Our players competed for Gus and I know they have great respect for him, as do I.
Gus also represented the Jaguars, the Jacksonville community and the NFL in nothing less than a first-class manner as our head coach. That counts for a lot. It is unfortunately evident that we must make a change. I thought it would be best to do it immediately after today’s result so Gus can step away, relax and regroup with his family during the Christmas and holiday season.
Dave Caldwell agreed and will now be charged with exploring all options to hire the best head coach possible to lead what I feel is an extremely talented team and reward a very loyal and patient fan base in Jacksonville.
That’s the saddest statement I’ve ever read. “Gus gave his staff and players literally everything he had” is the worst indictment of Bradley’s lack of coaching ability as you could write. Bradley ends his coaching career and, trust me, this should be the end, as the worst head coach in the modern NFL era. His career record of 14-48 is historic in its shittiness, his winning percentage of .225 the worst of the Super Bowl era by 42 points.
Bradley has lived atop my Coach Ineptitude Rankings all season and was the best bet for the first coach fired since about Week Six. He somehow not only survived until Week 15, but wasn’t even the first coach fired. That honor went to the Los Angeles Rams’ Jeff Fisher, who beat him by a week.
While Bradley was unquestionably going to be fired at the end of the season, firing him on the team bus comes as a shocker. It just goes to show how fed up Khan had to be at the direction of the team and, trust me, nothing fires up a beaten down fanbase than firing your shitty coach.
Bradley, 50, has been the head coach in Jacksonville since 2013. Before that he was the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks and that position is probably one where he’ll return. He’s a good guy. He’s just not, and will never be again, an NFL head coach. His best season in Jacksonville was 5-11 in 2015, a full 36 percent of his career head coaching wins.
By getting fired, Bradley misses his chance at the Jeff Fisher Memorial 7-and-9 Bullshit award for an undeserving head coach who manages, against God’s will, to keep his job. Of course, Bradley was never really in that mix.
The Jaguars didn’t announce an interim head coach, but a safe bet is Doug Marrone, the current Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Line Coach. Marrone was the head coach in Buffalo just three years ago, leading the team to a 9-7 record. Marrone exercised a clause in his contract then to becme a free agent thinking a better head coaching job would materialize. It didn’t.
Mike Mallory is the special teams coordinator and he’s a possibility. If they do give it to Mallory, that means Marrone won’t even be in the running for the job. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett or defensive coordinator Todd Wash are basically jokes at their jobs. Naming either of those guys would show Khan might be going with the “tank the season plan,” just wanting to add a little post-Gus Bradley hope.
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