Jacksonville Jaguars: Championship window slammed shut

The Jacksonville Jaguars squandered away the game against Pittsburgh and their   window to win a championship is closed.

What do the months of January and November have in common if you are a Jacksonville Jaguars fan? The answer is squandering away an opportunity to win big games. Most of all, the window to win a championship is slammed shut for the Jaguars.

Last season was very special for the Jaguars. They were so close to making their first appearance in the Super Bowl. Currently, they have lost six-straight games after a 3-1 start. What happened and how do you fix it?

First of all, injuries have hit the Jaguars offense very hard. The offensive line is decimated by injury. The receiving corps, including the tight ends, are injured as well. But, the Jaguars are built to be a run first offense.

In the free agency period in March, the Jaguars signed Andrew Norwell to be the left guard. They also signed Donte Moncrief, Austin Seferain-Jenkins and Niles Paul to replace holes in the receiving corps.

Norwell has battled through his bumps and bruises. Seferian-Jenkins and Paul are on the injured reserve list. Jacksonville made the decision to pay big dollars to the defense and cut and paste an offense together.

Then, Leonard Fournette has been out due to a hamstring injury. Corey Grant is lost for the season. The gamble to run the ball and rely on the defense has not worked out. The Jaguars defense gets wore down because a one dimensional offensive approach can not move the chains when it matters the most.

The loss to Pittsburgh speaks volumes about the Jaguars offense. Jason Wolf of BuffaloNews.com quotes Doug Marrone after the loss:

"“I think we had three or four three-and-outs at the end of the game,” Marrone said. … You’re physical and running the football. … We were getting beat a little bit, not schematically, …, but still we have to be able to get first downs and close the game out. If you just had one first down on any of those drives you had a chance to win that football game, and we weren’t able to do that. …”"

Déjà vu all over again from the AFC Championship Game in January. It didn’t work with a healthy O-line then and now the same with a patchwork O-line. Perhaps it is time to embrace a wide open passing offense.

If the Jaguars are head strong in keeping Blake Bortles as the starting quarterback, then they should spend money on wide receivers. With the salary cap for 2019 in a serious dilemma, it will be interesting to see how Jacksonville deals with it.

According to Spotrac.com, Jacksonville will be $12.784 million over the cap in 2019. The Jaguars front office probably thought that a Lombardi Trophy would be at team headquarters in February. Then, in March, they could make the necessary changes to get under the salary cap.

Expect the Jaguars to play tough in the remaining six games. Most of the players will be playing for their 2019 roster spot.