Blake Bortles

Jaguars fire coach Gus Bradley after nine straight losses

Published Dec. 18, 2016 6:29 p.m. ET

Dieter Kurtenbach

The Jacksonville Jaguars entered the 2016 season with high expectations following a promising 2015 campaign where the team showed upside on both sides of the ball.

The Jags had people believing that this was going to be the year Jacksonville was going to be relevant again.

That did not happen.

In many ways, all the momentum the Jaguars entered this season with has been reversed and Jacksonville is back at square one.

It has been a disastrous season, and on Sunday, following the team's ninth straight loss, the first head rolled: the Jaguars fired head coach Gus Bradley.

https://twitter.com/Jaguars/status/810618970227273728

The firing shouldn't come as a surprise — Bradley had gone 14-48 in four seasons in charge in Jacksonville, one of the worst head-coaching records in NFL history.

Sunday's game was a logical bookend to the Bradley era — the Jaguars held a 20-8 road lead over the Houston Texans, who were playing backup quarterback Tom Savage, and lost 21-20.

Houston had benched starting quarterback and prized (but disappointing) free-agent signing Brock Osweiler in the first half of the game, which only highlighted Bradley's loyalty to Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, who has been one of the worst QBs in the NFL this year but has remained Jacksonville's starter.

Bortles was 12-for-28 for 92 yards Sunday, throwing an interception. With Bradley's firing, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft's future in Jacksonville is thrown even more into question.

What wasn't in question was how Bradley got back to Jacksonville — he flew with the team after being fired:

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/810624362327998464

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Blake Bortles

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