In the moments after a 28-20 season-ending loss to the Tennessee Titans in Week 18, the Jacksonville Jaguars were left searching for answers in a somber locker room.
Some players felt the team was searching for a spark that never came. Others felt the team lost sight of the fundamentals and details that prevent mistakes and miscues.
According to Jaguars safety Andre Cisco, part of the problem was that the team let success inflate its ego.
“When you get success, you have to handle it properly,” Cisco told reporters. “You can’t let it get to your head. You can’t approach life like you have success. You have to approach it the same way every day. You have to have humility.
“I take accountability for that, as well. There’s a way you have to handle success in this league because there’s going to be so many things, like cameras in front of you, and accolades and money that comes with it. So, how do you handle it? I don’t think we did a good job at it.”
Last season, the Jaguars won their last five regular season games to steal the AFC South crown from the Titans. After earning a playoff win to boot, Jacksonville was considered a dark horse Super Bowl contender heading into the 2023 season.
While the Jaguars stumbled early in the year, an 5-0 month of October renewed the belief that the team was one of the NFL’s best. But it all fell apart in December.
Jacksonville has plenty of tough decisions to make in the 2024 offseason, but finding humility shouldn’t be a challenge after the team was thoroughly humbled in its season-ending skid.
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