It’s possible that the Jaguars will fire coach Doug Marrone after Sunday’s regular-season finale. However, a report that he’s already been told he’s out is not accurate.
ESPN reported on Saturday that Marrone has been informed that he’ll be fired after Sunday’s game against the Colts. Per multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, Marrone has not been told that he’s out.
As one source put it, team owner “Shad [Khan] wouldn’t handle it that way.”
Indeed, as Khan recently handled it with V.P. of football operations Tom Coughlin, the firing was made without delay. And that would make much more sense here; if Khan were determined to fire Marrone after Sunday’s game and to break the news to him now, why not just let someone else on the staff handle the final game on an interim basis?
If the goal is to win the game, telling Marrone that’s he’ll be out of a job when the game ends isn’t the way to do it. (Of course, if the goal is to lose on Sunday in order to enhance 2020 draft standing, this would be a very creative way to distract the team.)
Again, Marrone may still be fired. But we’re told that he hasn’t been told that he’s out.
If nothing else, the fact that conflicting reports have emerged could force the team to address the situation, either by firing Marrone, denying the report that he’s been told he’ll be fired, or announcing that he’ll be back for 2020.