For a team looking to return to the playoffs after a frustrating end to the 2023 season, the first few week of 2024 did not feature the fast start the Jaguars were hoping for.
Jacksonville has opened the 2024 campaign 1-4, becoming the final team to earn a win with their victory last Sunday over the Colts in a nail biter.
Considering the high hopes for this year's team coming from outside and inside the building, the slow start brought with it concern over the team's ability in its current incarnation to match those expectations. Questions have already been posed to head coach Doug Pederson about his confidence in the stability of his position just a month into the season, and one win isn't enough to end those discussions just yet.
But, speaking Saturday to the Florida Times-Union, Jaguars owner Shad Khan was not quite ready to throw in the towel. Khan was vocal during the offseason that “winning now is the expectation” and that he believed this was the "best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, ever."
When asked whether the early frustrations had changed his thoughts on that claim, Khan remained steadfast, responding "No. Not at all."
"I still believe in them. I believe in the players, I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in [general manager] Trent [Baalke]," Khan said. "Obviously, the results are disappointing for all of them, just as well as me or any other Jaguar fan, but, the key thing one has to understand [is] we have evolved and really got to a level. I think we've got the players, we've got the coaching, we've got the facilities."
Chief among Khan's justifications for his optimism has been the manner in which the Jaguars lost their first four games. Week 3 was a 47-10 blowout to the Bills, but the other three games Jacksonville dropped came in much closer fashion.
Each of those three games the Jaguars either held a lead or had a chance to take the lead late in the contest, but just couldn't quite finish the job, losing by less than a touchdown each time and by a combined 12 points.
"To me, every game you go to, you want to do everything to win it and this is the NFL, that's hard. Every game is competitive. A loss is a loss, but [it's about] how you lose," Khan said. "To me, the three games we lost early in the season, it's disappointing, [but] we could have won them."
Week 5 against the Colts they avoided that fate, winning by a field goal despite first allowing Indy to come back from 14 points down to tie it late in the game. The Jags will be hoping that can prove the impetus to turn over a new leaf in the second quarter of the season.
Khan also pointed to the franchise's recent history as reason for hope for the 2024 season, reiterating that even horrible starts can be saved by a strong finish. Jacksonville did just so in 2022, starting the year 3-7 before winning six of their last seven games to finish 9-8 and win the AFC South just one year removed from a 3-14 finish.
One win is a spark of hope. In order to turn that spark into a flame, the Jaguars will need to keep with their winning ways, beginning with Sunday's London game versus the Bears at 9:30 am ET.
