Worst moments in Jacksonville Jaguars history
What are the worst moments for each NFL franchise? Yahoo Sports provides our opinion, which you are free to disagree with (and we’re sure you will).
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5. Drafting Blaine Gabbert
When the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to draft Gabbert 10th overall in 2011, it wound up being the first (and probably most important) decision that sent the franchise into an extended downward spiral. Gabbert replaced the somewhat successful David Garrard at quarterback, and he was never anywhere close to effective in his three years with Jacksonville. In three seasons with the Jags, Gabbert threw 22 touchdowns vs. 24 interceptions, Jacksonville went 11-37 and didn’t win more than five games until 2017.
4. Blackout in Jacksonville
The economic recession in 2008 hurt attendance numbers around the NFL in the years that followed, but the Jaguars were hit especially hard with a team struggling on the field and playing in a smaller market. In 2009, seven out of the Jaguars’ eight home games were blacked out on local TV due to lack of attendance. The city of Jacksonville and the NFL had to step in to help promote ticket sales as rumors of the team moving cities began to swirl.
3. Bye-bye, Tom
In many ways, Tom Coughlin defined the beginning of the Jaguars as a franchise. He was the team’s first head coach and general manager, and he helped guide the Jaguars to four playoff appearances and four playoff wins in the first five seasons of their existence. But despite the early success, Jacksonville experienced a swift decline, with three straight losing seasons from 2000-02. Coughlin was fired after the 2002 season, marking the end of an era. It became more painful for Jaguars fans when Coughlin went on to win two Super Bowl titles with the New York Giants.
2. Intercepted by Willie Clay
Mark Brunell had plenty of time – to scan the field, find an open receiver or throw it away and live for another down. But instead … trailing the New England Patriots 13-6 early in the fourth quarter of the 1996 AFC Championship game, the Jaguars were on the verge of tying things up. They had no business being there – a franchise in just its second year, a modest 9-7 season, having upset the No. 1 seeded Broncos a week before – but there they were, on the verge of a berth in the Super Bowl. On second and goal from the five, Brunell dropped back, looked, looked and fired into a crowd that included the Patriots’ Willie Clay, who picked off the pass. On the Jags’ ensuing possession, James Stewart fumbled, the Pats returned it for a touchdown and Jacksonville hasn’t been that close to a Super Bowl again.
1. Damn those Tennessee Titans
It’s safe to say the 1999 season was the peak of this young franchise, as the Jaguars finished 14-2 and earned the top seed in the AFC playoffs. But despite building a 14-10 halftime lead over the division-rival Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship game, the Steve McNair-led Titans rattled off 23 straight points in the second half to end the Jags’ season just short of a Super Bowl. Adding to the frustration, all three of Jacksonville’s losses that season came against the Titans.