The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars have had plenty in common over the past two seasons.
Both AFC South clubs fired their coaches who had them in the playoffs at least once since 2016 and went with rookie coaches, who have produced 2-11 records apiece and are starting rookie quarterbacks.
However, one franchise is a bigger embarrassment than the other.
Although coach David Culley has had his moments with poor in-game management, and he the team’s penalties and discipline issues have persisted throughout the season, he has remained out of the headlines, unlike Urban Meyer. There aren’t any videos from Culley partying at bars or reports of him belittling his staff. Culley has formed a tight-knit team that is all-in, even though they are all in on failure presently.
With general manager Nick Caserio hiring David Culley, it was a tacit acknowledgement paying for the sins of Bill O’Brien wasn’t going to happen in one season. Why waste a hire on a guy that isn’t going to have a competitive roster?
The Jaguars may not have had such clarity when it came to their situation. They were going to get Trevor Lawrence, a la Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert. Things were turned around already. Now, they just needed a big-name coach. That strategy backfired as the Jaguars weren’t getting Kliff Kingsbury or maybe even Matt Rhule. They were getting Bud Wilkinson or Lou Holtz with the off-field drama of Jay Gruden’s last season in Washington.
What the Jaguars have not had to deal with is a franchise quarterback who refuses to be a part of the team, and even if he did, he is the defendant in a civil suit wherein 22 women allege sexual assault. That storyline made Houston a circus throughout the 2021 offseason, but has gone on hiatus during the regular season, and the dysfunction hot potato has gone back to Jacksonville.
Both franchises are in unenviable places, and only time will disclose how Caserio and Jacksonville general manager Trent Baalke get out of it.