r/nfl•9 yr. ago

32 Teams/32 Days- Day 5: Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville Jaguars

AFC South

3-13 (2-4 in division), 4th place

Remember the Jaguars hype train at the start of the season? Remember the Jaguars being everyone’s sexy playoff pick, pick to win the AFC South, and that this would be the year the Jaguars finally, after a decade of futility and after not having a winning record since 2007, turn it around? I ‘member. Those were the good ‘ol days, when there was optimism that surrounded the team. There was a belief in Blake Bortles, and even a belief in Gus Bradley.

I didn’t buy it. Oddly enough, generally speaking, the only people not on the Jaguars hype train were Jags fans. They’ve seen this story too many times before. How are you going to trust a team, that hasn’t won more than 5 games in a season since 2010, hasn’t hosted a playoff game since the 1999 season, and that’s picked in top five for 5 years in a row, to make that jump overnight? It was unrealistic to think it would happen, and I think most Jags fans had modest expectations for the 2016 season. The general consensus was somewhere around .500 with anywhere from 7-9 wins, with the idea being that 2017 would be the year that the Jags finally make themselves known.

However, despite all of that, I don’t think anybody expected what happened in 2016 to happen. Because what ended up transpiring in 2016 can only be described as a nightmare.

I can safely say that 2016 was the worst season in franchise history. I actually challenge the Jaguars to find a way to go lower than they did in 2016, because that would be almost impossible. One of the top 3 moments of the 2016 season was when the clock hit 0:00 in Indianapolis in week 17 and we were finally put out of our misery. The highlights of our season consisted of incredibly made anti-hype videos. The 2016 season literally could not end soon enough.

I’m not just saying that because they stunk. They’ve stunk for a while now; eventually, you become Linkin Park and just become numb. However, the 2016 Jaguars were a special kind of suck. Plays that literally defied the laws of physics? Players calling out fans? Complete incompetence from the front office? All this and more occurred in 2016. The Jags have had bad seasons before, but some of them have actually been enjoyable to watch. The second half of the 2013 season, despite going 4-12 and starting 0-8 with all double-digit losses in the first 8 games, was the most fun I’ve had watching the Jags. There were even moments when Chad Henne took over the starting QB job in 2012 where I looked forward to games.

I cannot say the same about 2016. There was no season ever like the 2016 season in Jacksonville, and hopefully, there never will be again. While there were some bright spots (like Jalen Ramsey and week 16), they were few and far between. However, now I must do what seems impossible and dreaded, and write about the 2016 season (which I’ve so desperately tried to forget and bury in my mind by now), while looking ahead to the 2017 offseason (which feels like it’s been here forever already, simply because Jags fans have been waiting for this since October).

Much like last year and every year that I’ve written one of these posts, I tend to write at length, so it goes over the character limit (this one is well over 20,000 words). Because of this, I’m breaking it up into individual comments that you can look at. Shout-out to u/skepticismissurvival for letting me do this post for the second straight year, and shout-out to everyone who wanted me to do the Jags post for this series. With that being said, here’s a look back at the worst season in Jaguars history.

Also, if you think I just forgot about Gus Bradley, don’t you worry. There’s a whole section dedicated to that.

Statistics

Draft Picks

Free Agents: Offense

Free Agents: Defense

2016 Season (Week 1)

2016 Season (Week 2)

2016 Season (Weeks 3-5)

2016 Season (Week 6)

2016 Season (Weeks 7-8): The Week The Wheels Came Off

2016 Season (Weeks 9-11)

2016 Season (Weeks 12-14)