Quote:Before last night's game, I had been kicking around the idea of a post arguing that though Bradley deserves to be fired, there wouldn't be much point in firing him now, in midseason.

 

My rationale is that at best, it would be a half solution.  If Bradley is a negative, getting rid of the negative is only half of the answer at best.  The team isn't likely to make significant changes to the scheme.  If player development is an issue, the same coaches developing these players are going to be coaching them for the rest of the season.  Even assuming the team was willing to write a blank check to bring in a Coughlin or a Gruden or a Shanahan immediately, them assembling the coaching staff couldn't happen until after the football season anyway.

 

 But this is different.

 

Allen Robinson, Telvin Smith, Blake Bortles, and Rashad Greene can trash the fans for booing all they like and dismiss the import of our angst as the whining of spoiled fans.

 

But when accomplished and respected guys like Bill Cowher and Deion Sanders publicly call the team out on national television for quitting, there is nothing Robinson, et al, can say to refute that.

 

There is nothing they can say to dismiss 14-41.

 

There is nothing they can say that can mitigate 1 good quarter of play in the last 12.

 

My argument now is that Bradley needs to be fired immediately.  Even if the interim coach is not his long term replacement, the team needs a catalyst to boost its effort beyond that of perfunctory obligation. 

 

Jaguars football needs to mean something more than going through the motions.

 

Agreed.  I know there are those, including Tony Boselli, who say it won't make a difference, but I think it becomes a focus on accountability.  Maybe an interim coach comes in and changes the culture of the locker room to assure that when players say or do stupid things, or they wind up getting ejected from games for abhorrent behavior, there are penalties beyond whatever fines the league issues.  

 

It's clear at this point that, at a minimum, Gus has lost the locker room.  That alone is ample evidence that he should be sent packing as soon as possible so that we can start to fix that.  By leaving him in place, it becomes nothing more than a festering cesspool with no leadership or focus.  

 

The culture has to change, and that's not going to happen as long as Bradley is roaming the halls of EverBank.  

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