Opinion: Urban Meyer, embarrassed by viral video, could learn about maturity from Jags' rookie QB

Give a rookie the keys to an NFL franchise, and there are bound to be some screw-ups.

The good ones recognize early on that this isn’t college, and they can’t operate as such. The game is faster, the players are better, the coaches are craftier and the criticism is harsher and quicker to come.

Adapt, and you have a chance to be successful. Don’t, and your career is likely to have the shelf life of a Bill Belichick hug.

Who’d have thought, though, that 21-year-old Trevor Lawrence would be better equipped to handle this new reality than a coach who is 35 years older? But that is where we are.

The strong performance by Lawrence last week shows the Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback is beginning to get a handle on the NFL game. Coach Urban Meyer, meanwhile, keeps proving he still has a lot to learn -- with no indication he’s close to doing so.

That Meyer was trending for all the wrong reasons Saturday night is problematic enough. An 0-4 team does not need additional distractions, and Meyer provided plenty after videos surfaced of him in inappropriately close proximity to a woman who is not his wife.

What was more troubling, though, is how Meyer found himself in this spot in the first place.

Rather than flying back to Jacksonville with the Jaguars after the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night, Meyer stayed in Ohio to “see the grandkids, and we all went to dinner that night at a restaurant.” Rather than getting a jump on preparation for this week’s game against the AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans, Meyer went on fall break.

Rather than showing his commitment to the Jaguars and the NFL, Meyer only reinforced the notion that this is something of a vanity project for him.

APOLOGY: Jaguars coach Urban Meyer apologizes for "being a distraction" with viral video

It didn’t help that Meyer was wearing an Ohio State pullover when he was out and about. This is a guy who spent decades color-coordinating his ties with whatever school he was coaching. Who said on the day he was hired that his family was already wearing their Jaguars shirts.

You think he doesn’t have a spare Jaguars polo lying around the house? Or doesn’t recognize how bad the optics are of wearing Ohio State gear when the majority of people already think he has one foot out of the NFL door?

If this had been Lawrence, there’d be no shortage of discussions about his maturity. Or lack thereof. Whether he had the discipline to be a franchise quarterback. What this would cost him in the locker room.

But it never would have been Lawrence.

Under the microscope since before he got to Clemson, the next wrong move Lawrence makes will be his first. He is poised, mature beyond his years, and seems to fully recognize that life in the NFL will not be as charmed as it was in college or high school. Not right away, anyway.

While Meyer sounded deflated to the point of defeat after Thursday night’s loss, it was Lawrence who provided the clear-eyed view.

“We’re going to bounce back. I have no doubt. I know what we’re made of, just seeing how we’ve handled the first three weeks,” Lawrence said. “We’re getting there. I’m not even going to say it’s going to take time. We’re right there. … We’re going to keep working.”

Even when Meyer threw shade, inadvertently or not, on his young quarterback by mentioning that Lawrence went to Las Vegas for his bachelor party, the contrast was clear. There were no embarrassing photos of Lawrence from the trip, no indication he did anything to discredit himself or the Jaguars.

The same cannot be said for Meyer.

“There was a big group next to the restaurant," Meyer said Monday. "They wanted me to come over and take pictures, and I did. (They) tried to pull me out on the dance floor, screwing around, but I should've left."

Yes. That it took embarrassing videos to surface for him to recognize that is mind-boggling.

Meyer said Monday he had apologized to his family and the team, and also talked with team leaders. Perhaps that will be enough, and the Jaguars can move on.

But when the rookie QB seems to be adapting better to the NFL than the rookie head coach, it doesn't bode well for Meyer's long-term success. And that should trouble the Jaguars most of all.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Urban Meyer, embarrassed by video, could learn maturity from rookie QB