Jaguars fire head coach Gus Bradley after meltdown loss to Texans

The 2016 NFL season has suffered its second in-season coaching firing.

The Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they have fired head coach Gus Bradley on Sunday night. The Los Angeles Rams fired Jeff Fisher last week, which could mean that Black Monday — the day after regular season when coaches typically learn their fates — isn’t quite as dark this season.

It appears that Bradley was informed and the team alerted the public while the team was flying back to Jacksonville on Sunday. In a statement, team owner Shad Khan said:

“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.

“[General manager] 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.”

It’s not a stunning development given that Bradley had gone 14-48 over parts of four seasons with the Jaguars, who lost their ninth straight game Sunday — the most consecutive losses in franchise history — to fall to 2-12. The Jaguars led the Houston Texans, who benched starting quarterback Brock Osweiler during the game, 13-0 in the first half and 20-8 late in the third quarter before allowing the Texans to score 13 unanswered points to finish off the contest with a 21-20 win.

The beginning of the end might have been the Week 8 loss to the Tennessee Titans in prime time in which the Jaguars fell behind 27-0 at halftime. Khan started to attend team meetings, and though he did not make a move on Bradley at that time, the signs were there that things were not in good shape with him. The past three weeks, losing to two backup quarterbacks and a battered Minnesota Vikings team that had won only once since Week 5, was the final straw.

Still, Bradley was well-liked by his players — and appears to be respected as a coach by at least one of them.

But Bradley’s win percentage of .226 is the worst in NFL history for coaches with at least 50 games since Bert Bell in the 1930s. One big failure this season on Bradley’s watch has been the play of quarterback Blake Bortles, who appeared to be breaking through last season. But Bortles struggled again on Sunday, completing 12 of 28 passes for 92 yards with an interception.

Entering the season, there were high expectations for the Jaguars, who added several pieces in free agency and appeared to cash in through the draft the past few seasons. He received a contract extension through the 2017 season this year to avoid entering a lame-duck year, and it was clear that he needed to succeed this season to remain. That talent never came together under Bradley’s watch, however.

That apparently was all Khan needed to see. Now Bradley can spend time with his family at Christmas. The rest of the Jaguars, however, are required to finish out the season.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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