Late Wednesday night, the Jacksonville Jaguars fired Urban Meyer. Fortunately for the team, the new head coach has experience in the area: This is Darrell Bevell’s second consecutive year stepping in as the interim head coach of an NFL team. Last year, he took over the Detroit Lions after Matt Patricia was fired two days after Thanksgiving.
He had a little more time to prepare last season, but Bevell did win his first game as a head coach, a comeback 34-30 win over the Chicago Bears. The Lions would then lose out to finish 5-11, and Bevell left to become Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator after the Lions hired Dan Campbell. It’s almost like he knew he’d have another chance to get a head coaching job in-season if he went there.
Bevell looked like he was going for another comeback win on Sunday with some of his early decisions. After the Texans scored on their opening possession, the Jaguars drove into the red zone. Bevell decided to kick a field goal on fourth-and-3 from Houston’s 4-yard line. Then Tremon Smith returned the ensuing kick for a touchdown, and suddenly it was 14-3. I wrote “stupid!” in my notebook about the decision to kick a field goal there. (I didn’t actually do this. I don’t even know where a pen is.)
Yeah, the Jaguars ended up losing 30-16. But at least James Robinson finally got the majority of the carries, rushing 18 times for 75 yards and a touchdown. A fan was on the field for that score.
The Jags made it 23-16 in the fourth quarter on Matthew Wright’s third field goal. They gained a total of six yards on their next two possessions and punted it both times. After that second punt, the Texans put it away: Brandin Cooks took a screen pass to the end zone on third-and-9 to clinch it. It was his second score of the day.
And, hey, the Jaguars are now 2-12 and the Texans are 3-11. The Jaguars will get a better pick! Who knows if Bevell will be there to reap the rewards, but he has to be feeling pretty so-so today. The Urban Meyer Postgame Physical might be over, but the Defector Interim Medical Evaluators (DIME) are here for one week. The DIME has judged him to be, you know, OK.
Darrell Bevell is here. He’s just here. The Darrell Bevell Postgame Physical reflects this.
