Truly unhinged. Wild how many new ways the Jags can find to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. What's even wilder is that the decision to retain Trent Baalke seems to have been made in a total vacuum, by Shad Khan alone. There was some pretty open chatter within the organization over the weekend (mainly about the logistics with the bad weather rolling in) that Doug was getting let go after the game. But total radio silence on Trent, beyond speculation that there was no way Trent could be retained. Probably should have taken that as a bad sign instead of getting my hopes up that we'd finally hit the full reset button.
Not sure if anyone saw the 2:00 press conference with Shad and Trent, but it was an all-timer. Zero accountability from Trent for the team's collapse over the last two years, zero accountability from Shad toward Trent. Doesn't sound like Shad talks to anyone in depth about football beyond his existing coaching staff and Trent, nor does it sound like he's got the appetite to do what it takes to fill both positions simultaneously. Doesn't consider Trent's contract to be relevant to the coaching search, and genuinely believes that the sole reason the team fell apart was because of Doug and the defense.
I'm really starting to sour on Shad Khan's arrogance. I deeply appreciate the fact that he honored his word to keep the NFL in Jacksonville, and it's cool that he's investing in the area surrounding the stadium (let's not kid ourselves into thinking it's fully altruistic, however). But it's truly wild how disconnected he is from the average Jacksonville citizen. Will take it one step further and say he probably looks down, purposely or subconsciously, on the average Jacksonville citizen. He doesn't show up to City Council meetings when asking for $700 million from taxpayers. Doesn't attend community events. Stays on his yacht when he's here, rather than on the ground in Jacksonville. When have you ever seen him engage with the community when there wasn't an ask involved? He only talks to the local press in London. And - when a legit 95%+ of your paying Jacksonville supporters are asking for a change, after agreeing to just make the biggest investment in city history to support your business - and you're up there smirking at the podium about the backlash. I don't know.
When you're asking for that much money from the city, you've gotta do better by the locals. And when every NFL source under the sun is saying that the Jags are going to severely handicap their ability to bring in a Top 5 coach if they choose to retain Trent Baalke, and you do keep him onboard anyway despite an abysmal run that has cost your fans millions of dollars to witness firsthand - yuck.