Is Urban Meyer on the fast-track to getting fired by Jaguars?

Urban Meyer has done nothing but lose with the Jaguars thus far and, with off-field controversy now about, is he on his way to being fired?

Skeptics were immediately vocal about the Jacksonville Jaguars hiring Urban Meyer. He was a head coach with zero NFL experience coming onto a roster that, even after adding Trevor Lawrence, was going to be a long way from winning consistently in the league. Somehow, things have gotten worse than that.

In the wake of a viral video circulating showing the Jaguars head coach dancing in the bar with a woman who is not his wife, Meyer issued a public apology. However, that apology seemingly hasn’t smoothed things over.

Former NFL executive and current league reporter and podcaster Michael Lombardi said on Tuesday that there were numerous closed-door meetings going on in Jacksonville right with the ominous note that “this might get ugly”. NFL insider Benjamin Allbright also added that the Jaguars front office wants to give Meyer the opportunity to “dig out of this” but that the brass has also discussed who would take over if they fired the head coach midseason.

And in the midst of this, of course, Jaguars owner Shad Khan issued a statement:

Even that doesn’t feel like a full vote of confidence and comes off more like Urban Meyer is on his last legs.

Urban Meyer may have lost the Jaguars locker room already and that leaves Jacksonville with no choice but to fire him.

Just based on everything that’s happened, an 0-4 record to start the season included, there might already be enough cause to hand Urban Meyer his pink slip. But if you thought it couldn’t get worse, then you’d be wrong.

Longtime NFL insider Mike Silver reported that one Jaguars player said Meyer had “zero credibility” in the locker room, losing the “very little” he had to start. Moreover, he tried to spin his story regarding the video as just a random bad look but the team was dubious and laughed at him when he left the room. The hammer was the player saying “It’s bad. I don’t know how he’s gonna function.”

Urban Meyer isn’t in a college town where he can spin the media that’s in his favor because he wins football games. He’s in a market that has no goodwill for him and is now winless through the first four weeks of the 2021 season. There is no spin. This is all bad. And it should lead to him losing his job.

Had any of the video from the bar — or many of his decisions for how to operate since he arrived in Jacksonville — been handled differently, there might be a more favorable opinion of Meyer. But when you combine that with the losing and the fact that he’s also lost the locker room (no doubt the biggest issue on the matter), it’s an untenable situation.

Nothing in the NFL is certain and it’s clear that Khan wants to wait as long as possible before firing Urban Meyer — likely because he still owes him a substantial amount of money. However, the tea leaves say that the Jaguars could be working under an interim head coach before the end of October.