Jaguars lose the game and their quarterback, in embarrassing opener to the Chiefs

After an off-season of optimism and a preseason of unknowns, the Jaguars opened the 2019 season against the Kansas City Chiefs with high hopes and expectations under new quarterback Nick Foles, then the game kicked off and everything went to hell in a game with temperatures that felt like it was being played there.

The Chiefs opened the scoring on the third play of the game, with Patrick Mahomes hitting Sammy Watkins for a 68 yard touchdown which Watkins ran in for about 48 yards of untouched, and never looked back for the next 58 minutes winning a game that was never close, 40-26. Mahomes and the Chiefs accounted for close to 400 yards in the first half alone, and the second half wasn’t much better. There should be some legitimate concerns for what was once a dominant defense, following this game, as they simply were not competitive from the jump allowing Mahomes to do whatever he wanted and making Sammy Watkins look like Randy Moss. On top of that, their defensive captain, Myles Jack, was ejected early in the game for losing his cool and throwing a punch at a Chiefs player following a play in which the defense had sacked Mahomes finally. Yet another display of the lack of discipline that has plagued the franchise since Doug Marrone took over.

To make matters worse, the Jaguars might have lost their $88 million dollar quarterback for a significant period of time as Foles was injured on a perfect pass to D.J. Chark for a 35 yard touchdown on the Jags’ second drive of the game. Foles was quickly ushered to the team’s medical facilities with an undisclosed shoulder injury. He appeared on the sidelines shortly after with his right arm in a sling. In his stead, rookie Gardner Minshew II came in an played somewhat surprisingly well, at one point going 17/18 for 215 yards and a touchdown. Under normal circumstances, that may have been enough to keep the team in the game, but the Kansas City offense was just too much.

The Jaguars (0-1) now enter a two game stretch against divisional opponents in an eleven-day period, almost certainly without their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, and with their starting left tackle’s health also in doubt among countless others who were lost during the game and will likely be evaluated through the week.

You simply couldn’t have asked for a worse start to the season as a Jags fan.