Jags cut ties with Urban Meyer, Darrell Bevell to take over as interim HC

With four games remaining Urban Meyer is out as the #Jaguars head coach. Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will serve as the interim to close the season.

With just four games remaining in the 2021 NFL regular season, the Jacksonville Jaguars have fired their head coach in Urban Meyer. With the team letting him go, his NFL career in Jacksonville will end after just 13 games.

With Meyer out as the Jags’ head coach, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who brings over 20 years of NFL coaching experience to the table, will take over as the interim head coach. It’s a role he once had at his previous stop with the Detroit Lions after taking over for Matt Patricia in 2020 once he was fired as well. While holding the role, Bevell went 1-4.

Meyer was named the Jags’ coach on Jan. 14 after the team fired Doug Marrone. He was a coach known for his success on the college level where he won three championships, two of which came with the Florida Gators (2006 and 2008) and one of which came with Ohio State (2014).

Much like his collegiate career, Meyer’s NFL career came with a lot of controversial situations, including the decision to hire Chris Doyle, who previously battled allegations of racism and bullying at Iowa University in 2020, as his top strength and condition coach. Doyle later stepped down, but the controversy didn’t stop there for Meyer.

The other notable incident (among several) occurred in October after the Jags’ Week 4 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Meyer, who didn’t fly back with the team, was caught on video with a woman who wasn’t his wife dancing in his lap with Meyer’s hand below her waist. Afterward, owner Shad Khan released a statement that said the team would be sticking with Meyer, but he’d have to earn the trust of the team back in the process.

Despite that, it seems Meyer never got it together as a report from Tom Pelissero of NFL Network came out that claimed he got into an argument with receiver Marvin Jones Jr., who allegedly didn’t appreciate Meyer’s criticisms of the receivers. The report also shed light on a meeting where Meyer allegedly challenged his assistant coaches to defend their résumés  while calling them “losers.”

Pelissero’s report also discussed the Jags’ recent benching of running back James Robinson during the team’s Week 13 game against the Los Angeles Rams. Meyer told the media that the personnel situations fell on his assistants (in this case tailbacks coach Bernie Parmelee), but the report disputes that and claims that Meyer was the one who ordered the staff to bench the second-year player.

Lastly, on Wednesday, another report surfaced from the Tampa Bay Times where former kicker Josh Lambo claimed Meyer kicked him and called him out of his name to get I’m to perform better as the kicker was struggling with field goals. After Lambo let him know he didn’t appreciate it and to not do it again, Meyer told him he could do what he wanted as the head coach.

With the report coming out, it appears Khan had reached his breaking point and cut ties with Meyer. And with the first-year head coach gone, Bevell will have the chance to try and get the team to rebound with four games remaining.

Meyer, who had been an employee with the Jags for a little under 12 months, will exit his first (and maybe his last) tenure in the NFL with a 2-11 record.