The quest for the first victory of Urban Meyer’s NFL tenure will continue at least another week after the Jacksonville Jaguars were unable to close out a win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night.
Despite holding a 14-0 lead at halftime, the Jaguars allowed the Bengals to get back into the game with touchdowns on their first drives of the second half. Evan McPherson then delivered a 35-yard game-winning field goal as time expired as the Jaguars fell to 0-4 with a 24-21 loss to the Bengals.
“It’s devastating, heartbreaking,” Meyer told reporters after the game. “Usually I’m not wrong about stuff like that that I just see a good team in there. I see good guys, good hearts. I see guys at work and I told them I’m not wrong about that stuff. This team is going to win some games.”
It was the second game in a row that the Jaguars had held a second half lead only to be unable to finish the deal. Jacksonville held a 19-10 lead against the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday after a James Robinson touchdown with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Arizona would score 21 straight points to end the game
“It’s heartbreaking. That’s a heartbroken locker room, so we’ve got to get them back,” Meyer said.
After a rough first two weeks of the season against Houston and Denver, the Jaguars have played better over their last two contests. Despite being winless, the Jaguars don’t seem to be a pushover. But Meyer is finding out that wins are far more challenging to come by in the NFL than they were in college.