Jaguars owner Shad Khan hasn’t been shy about sharing his thoughts about what he wants to see from the team in 2016.
He’s said fans in Jacksonville have suffered enough losing and that he wants to see the team win now. Khan’s also said that he believes the team has the talent in place to meet that goal in coach Gus Bradley’s fourth year on the job.
There’s been no ultimatum concerning what failing to meet that goal will mean for Bradley or General Manager Dave Caldwell, but the urgency is clear. Caldwell said he isn’t feeling increased pressure as a result of Khan’s comments, but agrees that expecting a winning team makes sense this year.
“Not any more than the previous three years,” Caldwell said, via the Florida Times-Union. “Our pressure comes from within. ... We’ve been doing this for four years, and to have a winning record is probably a reasonable expectation. I think [Khan] will make a decision at the end of 16 games and say it’s the direction he likes or doesn’t.”
One thing that will have to change if the Jaguars are going to meet their reasonable expectation is to get off to a faster start to the season. In Bradley and Caldwell’s first three years, the Jags have been 0-8, 1-7 and 2-6 at the midway point of the season. However equipped the team may be to overcome mistakes within an individual game, they aren’t good enough to dig themselves out of those holes because it’s almost impossible to find teams that can spot the field such an advantage and then make it to the postseason.
The Jaguars host the Packers on Sunday in their first chance to get things moving in the right direction.