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The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Gus Bradley on Sunday afternoon, following their 21-20 loss to the Houston Texans, the team’s twelfth loss of the year and ninth in a row. The Jaguars owner, Shad Khad, released the following statement following the news:
I thanked Gus Bradley today for his commitment to the Jacksonville Jaguars over the past four seasons. As anyone close to our team knows, Gus gave his staff and players literally everything he had. Our players competed for Gus and I know they have great respect for him, as do I.
Gus also represented the Jaguars, the Jacksonville community and the NFL in nothing less than a first-class manner as our head coach. That counts for a lot. It is unfortunately evident that we must make a change. I thought it would be best to do it immediately after today’s result so Gus can step away, relax and regroup with his family during the Christmas and holiday season.
Dave Caldwell agreed and will now be charged with exploring all options to hire the best head coach possible to lead what I feel is an extremely talented team and reward a very loyal and patient fan base in Jacksonville.
The Jaguars will likely announce an interim head coach on Monday, so the team has someone in charge as they prepare for their final home game of the season against the Tennessee Titans on Christmas Eve. The future of general manager Dave Caldwell still hasn’t been determined, but based on the statement that Khan released in his statement it sounds as if Caldwell will be assisting in the coaching search, which likely means he sticks around at least through the remainder of his contract, which ends after the 2017 season.
Bradley was hired at the beginning of 2013, but after some initial signs he might be the right fit for the job, the team simply never even seemed to find the corner to turn. Bradley ended his Jaguars coaching career with an overall record of 14-48, which is the worst record of the modern era and behind only Bert Bell, who was also the owner of the team he was coaching at the time.