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Head coach Doug Pederson is quite aware that his seat at the helm is in jeopardy following the Jacksonville Jaguars' brutal 2024-25 season. Sitting at 4-12, the Jaguars head into their final game with an open mindset. Rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. has been one of the lone bright spots, so he'll be the focus heading into the offseason.
The organization will need to figure out what to do about the quarterback spot. Trevor Lawrence struggled for most of the year until going down with a season-ending injury in December, leaving Mac Jones and C.J. Beathard as the only remaining options on the depth chart.
It's possible that Pederson won't be the person that'll be involved in these decisions moving forward. After one playoff appearance in three seasons, the franchise may feel that it's time for a change.
“You go all the way back to high school, middle school, have a season where you had 12 losses — and it's hard to do,” Pederson said Friday, per ESPN's Michael DiRocco. “The hardest thing probably is just keeping the guys in it each week mentally. It'd be easy for them to kind of check out. So, from that standpoint, it's hard. Obviously, the pandemic year in '20 was another difficult one with the challenges of COVID and the safeguards in place that we had to do, the social distancing and all that, that made it difficult.
“But this one was tough. It was tough just to maintain the focus and the drive and each week be competitive, and still give ourselves opportunities to win games.”
Jaguars could already be looking for a new head coach
After winning just four games through the course of an NFL season, reality starts to set in that the clock is ticking for a head coach. The front office knows that it needs to give the fans some excitement heading into the offseason, and it's difficult to suggest that they haven't already been scouring the field looking at the best options for the Jaguars' replacement.
“[My family has] been around this league 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 go, ‘Hey, it was a great run. You had a chance to do a lot of great things. You had a chance to win a Super Bowl. You've coached some great players. You played in this league for a long time.'
“So, whatever happens, happens. But we keep moving forward.”
The Jaguars face the Colts at 1 PM ET from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with a chance to go into the offseason with a motivational victory.
