NFL hot seat: 5 coaches who’ll start 2020 in danger of being fired
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: Doug Marrone, Jacksonville Jaguars
Like Dan Quinn, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone is no stranger to the NFL hot seat.
Marrone and the Jaguars’ impressive 10-6 finish in 2017 and an appearance in the 2018 AFC Championship game is a distant memory now. Since then, Marrone’s Jaguars have gone a combined 11-21, finishing last in the AFC South both seasons.
Like Matt Nagy, Marrone was supposed to be the offensive mastermind intended to revitalize what was otherwise a stagnant Jacksonville offense.
Instead, the defense carried the Jaguars to that playoff run.
Marrone did have to overcome some tough challenges on the offensive side of the ball the last two seasons, including having to develop something out of his former quarterback, Blake Bortles, injuries to star running back Leonard Fournette and a general lack of wide receiver help. Trading away a disgruntled cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, in the middle of the year also pointed to some of the general dysfunction within the organization.
But in 2019, he started to run out of excuses, and Jacksonville’s offense finished 21st in scoring last season.
Instead of parting ways with Marrone, however, fired Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, which perhaps cleared some of the muck surrounding the franchise.
If Jacksonville still struggles, though, Marrone is almost assuredly gone in 2020.