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Michael DiRocco, ESPN writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson called the 2024 season the most difficult he’s had in his coaching career, and the Super Bowl LII winner acknowledged it could also be his last.
The Jaguars (4-12) enter Sunday’s season finale in Indianapolis having tied an NFL record with nine one-score losses this season. They haven’t beaten a team with a winning record, have scored 17 points or fewer eight times, are last in the NFL in pass defense and 31st in total defense, and suffered season-ending injuries to four key offensive starters (including quarterback Trevor Lorenzo).
They also lost 17 of their last 22 games after an 8-3 start to the 2023 season that kept them in contention for the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
All of that has put Pederson’s job in jeopardy as his third season with the Jaguars comes to a close.
“You go back to high school, middle school, you have a season where you had 12 losses, and it’s hard to do,” Pederson said Friday. “The hardest thing is probably just keeping the guys mentally focused every week. It would be easy for them to check that. So from that point of view, it’s difficult. Obviously, the pandemic year in 2020 was another difficult year. With the challenges of COVID and the safeguards that we had to do, the social distancing and all that, that made it difficult.
“But this one was tough. It was tough just keeping the focus and the momentum and being competitive every week, and still giving ourselves opportunities to win games.”
Owner Shad Khan has not given any indication about his plans regarding Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke. Khan told the team in a pre-training camp meeting that this was the best Jaguars team ever assembled and that their expectation was to make the playoffs, so the team’s failure to do so could mean that both They could be fired next week.
Pederson said he is aware of speculation that he could be fired, but he hasn’t let it affect him (his faith helps keep him and his family grounded, he said) and is operating under the premise that will return. in 2025 until I know otherwise.
“[My family has] I’ve been in this league for almost 30 years, player and coach, and you’ve seen a lot of things,” Pederson said. “If this is the last one, then I can look back and say, ‘Hey, that was a great career.’ . You had the opportunity to do many wonderful things. You had a chance to win a Super Bowl. You have coached great players. You played in this league for a long time.
“So whatever happens, happens. But we keep moving forward.”
