Jaguars’ future is bright, if they get a quarterback who’s better than ‘good enough’

The Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the best feel-good stories in the 2017 season. Led by a ferocious young defense, an old-school rushing attack, and a swaggering confidence that drew comparisons to Seattle’s Legion of Boom, the Jags made it to the AFC Championship for the first time since 1999.

Despite losing to the New England Patriots on Sunday, the Jaguars have a good shot at reaching the playoffs again next season. However, they have one lingering question mark that’s been hanging there all year: How much longer can they muddle through with a quarterback like Blake Bortles?

After spending the preseason in a starting job battle with Chad Henne, Bortles settled down and had one of his more stable years as an NFL quarterback. He set a career high with a 60.2 completion percentage and the 13 interceptions were his fewest in a season. He was better this year, and sometimes even quite good. Bortles closed the regular season on a hot streak with nine touchdowns in the final five games. He did about as well as can be expected in a run-first offense where he only plays the caretaker.

The problem is that Bortles can only succeed in such a limited, risk-averse offense. The Jaguars went out of their way to minimize the quarterback’s role, using the running game and shallow pass routes to create a station-to-station offense. It works well when Leonard Fournette is breaking chunk gains and the play action is freeing up receivers to do work after the catch. But on a day like Sunday, when Fournette was largely bottled up by the Patriots’ defense, the Jaguars floundered.

Jacksonville took a quick 14-3 lead thanks to creative playcalling from offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who utilized running back dumpoffs and well-timed throws to move the chains. The Jaguars got away from what worked, however, and a conservative approach ultimately doomed them.

Of course, when Tom Brady starts heating up, there isn’t much an opponent can do about it. That said, the Jags had several chances to put the game away late and keep Brady off the field, but they squandered nearly every opportunity.

In the second half, the offense completely fizzled out and struggled to convert first downs. More importantly, they barely moved the clock despite having a lead to protect. After going up 20-10 in the fourth quarter, here’s how the Jags’ final four possessions went:

The first three drives took a combined 4:52 off the clock, while the Patriots kept chipping away at the lead. The low point came after Myles Jack made an amazing defensive play to force a fumble, only for the offense to go three-and-out and give the ball right back to New England. Once Brady did his thing and put the Pats ahead, Bortles’ comeback attempt ended with a whimper.

To his credit, Bortles made a great throw on fourth down, which in turn was batted down by Stephon Gilmore to seal the win. But he didn’t make those kind of throws often enough, or early enough, and the Jags got sent home empty handed.

For much of the season, Bortles was best described as “good enough.” He did his job, and rarely killed the team with mistakes. This is a major improvement from previous years — at one point he had more career pick-sixes than wins. But to be a true contender, teams need way more than “good enough” from the most important position in football — especially when they’re trying to beat Brady and Bill Belichick in New England.

The Jaguars did well to hide Bortles’ weaknesses, but they didn’t have many strengths to emphasize. Once push came to shove, the difference between Bortles and a true franchise quarterback was made glaringly obvious. We’ve seen his ceiling, and it’s not a particularly exciting one.

Bortles has a fifth-year option for 2018, but it’s guaranteed for injury only, and the Jags can cut him without any cap hit. The question then becomes who is an upgrade from Bortles, and frankly, there are plenty of options.

Alex Smith and Case Keenum are way better at the game-manager shtick, while Kirk Cousins would be expensive but provide a legitimate boost to the entire offense. And hey, maybe Eli Manning decides he wants to reunite with Tom Coughlin. Either way, Coughlin and GM Dave Caldwell shouldn’t have much trouble finding a quality veteran QB to play for a win-now team supported by an elite defense.

The bottom line is this — the Jaguars can’t be settling for status quo. This team has the talent and youth to be a playoff contender for years to come, but if they want to take that next step, they need to be aggressive about upgrading their weakest position.