JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It has been 392 days since the Jacksonville Jaguars last won a game.
That’s a stretch of 20 consecutive losses, the second-longest losing streak in NFL history — and the league’s record for futility is well within sight, too. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hold that record after losing the franchise’s first 26 games in 1976 and ’77.
“You can’t wrap your head around that,” running back James Robinson said after the Jaguars lost to the Tennessee Titans 37-19 at TIAA Bank Field on Sunday. “We’ve got to find a way to win.
“We’re a really good team. Obviously, our record doesn’t show it, but we’ve got a lot of great guys in the locker room and we’ve just got to find something that’s going to work for us.”
The Jaguars haven’t won a game since the 2020 season opener, when they beat Indianapolis 27-20 at TIAA Bank Field. Thirteen of their 20 losses have been by double digits, including the past five games at home.
Sunday’s loss to the Titans was pretty typical of the streak:
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The defense failed to come up with enough plays in key situations. Cornerback Shaquill Griffin dropped what would have been a pick-six, for example, and there were several blown coverages that gave Tennessee QB Ryan Tannehill easy completions.
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Costly mistakes, like tight end Dan Arnold‘s fumble that was returned for a TD just a minute into the game.
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Questionable playcalling, such as not having Robinson on the field when the Jaguars faced first-and-goal from the Titans’ 5-yard line. Robinson, who had a career-high 149 yards rushing, didn’t touch the ball on any of the four snaps, and Carlos Hyde was stuffed for a 3-yard loss on fourth down.
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Special teams problems. Kicker Matthew Wright played instead of Josh Lambo, who is struggling with his confidence. Wright came up short on a 53-yard field goal attempt and banged a PAT off the right upright.
So players trudged off the field and again faced questions about their failure to do something that even the New York Jets have done three times and the Detroit Lions have done five times since the Jaguars last won a game.
“It’s tough,” Griffin said. “It’s a feeling that I don’t think no one wants. There’s a lot of things that we really, really need to figure out. Offense played really well. I feel like the defense could have done a lot more. I feel like the mistakes that we had just shouldn’t happen, and that’s what we’ve got to do better. We have to fix [this] ASAP. So far, man, it’s a tough feeling. It’s something that you don’t want. It’s something that you’ve got to change. We’ve got to do it. One thing about it, you’ve got to continue to believe, you’ve got to continue to have faith, and that’s the hardest part.
“That’s the hardest part for everybody, continuing to get everybody to believe. It’s not just me. It can’t be just one person believing in something. That’s the part [where we have to] continue to express, continue to talk about, get everybody to believe that we can win these games.”
The Jaguars (0-5) are a legitimate threat to reach the Bucs’ record. They play the Miami Dolphins in London on Sunday before their bye week, then travel to Seattle — where they’ve never won (0-3). Then comes a home game against Buffalo, a road trip to Indianapolis and back-to-back home games against San Francisco and Atlanta.
Lose all of those games and they’re at 26 in a row. Their next game? At the Los Angeles Rams.
“We don’t really talk about that [losing streak],” quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “I don’t think that’s good to talk about that. You can’t get desperate. You’ve got to just keep going to work. We’re going to win some games. We’re going to turn it around, and we all thought today was the day we were going to get that first win and it wasn’t.
“We didn’t execute enough down the stretch, but we’re going to figure it out. We’re going to turn this thing around. It’s going to be a lot of fun when we do. We want to win. All the guys. We’ve got so many hard workers and everyone’s so invested. It’s not a team where you’ve got guys that aren’t really committed or don’t care. Everyone’s all-in, so it’ll come.”
