I’m sure it has happened before so the Jags are really just the most recent example, but I can’t immediately recall a team’s SB window seemingly opening and closing quite as fast as the Jaguars.

They spent several years in team hell, drafting top 5 and never pulling together despite mild expectation. Then they fired Gus Bradley and hired Doug Marrone and suddenly, out of nowhere, the Jaguars became legit. Genuinely legit. It happened so fast that halfway through last season nobody even considered them legit despite mounting evidence. It wasn’t till late in the season that people finally took notice and went “huh…wait are the Jags good?” They were! A punishing rushing attack and brutal defense kept the mistake prone Bortles from having to win games.

They reach the playoffs, beat the Bills, then come out into a shootout with the Steelers and win. This Jags team is suddenly in the AFCCG. They go into Foxboro and against all odds, actually look like they could win this sucker against the mighty Pats. Then a few bad calls, some poor coaching choices, and some mistakes befall the team and the Pats squeak out a comeback win. Make no mistake, the Jags could have been in the SB with just a few things breaking their way that half. They may have even won it. A healthy and hungry Jags D against Nick Foles is a completely different dynamic than the game we got. Instead the Jags end up a prime example of just how much has to go your way to even reach a SB. The Patriots have really screwed our perspective on how difficult getting that far really is.

But there was reason to hope. Bortles had his best season and seemed comfortable in his game-managing role. The defense was returning. Fournette was coming back. The team started strong, beating a woeful Giants but then clobbering the Patriots. They suffered a divisional crapfest loss to the Titans (which could be chalked up to those teams always doing weird shit) and then beat the snot out of the Jets. They looked to be right on track as the AFCS frontrunner and competitor. Then something broke. They lost by 16 to the Chiefs. Fair enough, the Chiefs are a top 3 team. They lost by 33 to the Cowboys, which at the time looked even worse then it does now. They lost by 13 to the Texans, who were suddenly now relevant. They lost by 6 to the under-performing Eagles. They lost by 3 to the surging Colts. They lost in absolute heartbreaking fashion to the Steelers in a game they should have won easily. Now with the ugly loss to the Bills, the Jags are 3-8 with 7 straight losses. They aren’t losing to garbage, but they aren’t winning against mediocrity and two of the teams they actually beat (Jets and Giants) have proven to be complete dumpsters.

They’ve had injuries, but that almost doesn’t count anymore because pretty much every team that misses the playoffs can play that card every year. This team went from legitimate postseason threat to FIRE EVERYONE very, very fast. So was last year the fluke? Or is this year the fluke? Bortles seems to be regular old Bortles again and he can’t win games on his own. They need offensive weapons outside Fournette. Whatever the case is, stick a fork in DUUUUUUVAL as they are toast for now and we can eagerly await next year to see what this team actually is.