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UPDATE: Jaguars owner Shad Khan issued a statement after meeting with Meyer. This isn’t quite a vote of confidence, but Urban’s seat is heating up.
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 5, 2021
The Urban Meyer has been objectively a disaster through four weeks for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team is 0-4 and while we have seen a couple highlights on the football field in that time, Meyer’s issues outside of game-day are a huge issue. The Athletic’s Lindsay Jones put together a helpful rundown of the many off-field issues following Meyer’s apology on Monday for a viral video after he did not fly back to Jacksonville with the team.
And now it would appear Jaguars ownership is not overly pleased with the situation. We should always take Michael Lombardi rumors with a grain of salt, but given all that has gone down thus far since Meyer took over, it would be a surprise if this was not true.
According to two Jacksonville sources, there are many closed-door meetings happening over the last two days in the football offices and none of them have anything to do with the Titans. Stay tuned. This might get ugly.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) October 5, 2021
We don’t have odds yet on first coach to be fired, but Meyer would be among the favorites at this point. Among the teams struggling out of the gate (zero or one win through four weeks), the Jaguars, Lions, Jets, Falcons, and Texans all have a new head coach. The one difference for the Jaguars compared to the other teams is they’re the only ones who have seen their coach look bad outside of gameday on a slightly too regular basis.
That’s not to say Shad Khan deserves a pass on this. As Lindsay Jones noted, none of this is shocking behavior considering Meyer’s past. Khan was likely easily enamored by the high profile name he could land, regardless of if the hiring was actually a good idea.
With 13 weeks left and the schedule really not getting any easier, it’s hard to see Meyer lasting the season. They host Tennessee and Miami before their bye week. Both theoretically are winnable games, but they’ll be underdogs in both. After the bye, they travel to Seattle, host Buffalo, travel to Indianapolis, and then host San Francisco and Atlanta. They could beat the Falcons, but it’s hard to see much else in there. Other than Week 15 at home against the Texans or Week 16 at the Jets, there’s not much else that’s winnable.
The Jaguars could try and ride this out, but things are spinning out of control in a hurry.