Our love of the macabre could have potentially warped Monday's meeting between Jaguars owner Shad Khan and the rest of the team into something that did not happen.
Obviously, Khan had this year pegged for a potential playoff run, and while the Jaguars (2-4) are still very much in contention for the division, the product has yet to match the expectations.
As NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport noted Wednesday, head coach Gus Bradley is not likely in danger of getting fired mid-season. It is simply not the way the Jaguars intended to do business under the new Khan/Dave Caldwell regime and that won't change despite Bradley's 14-40 record since taking over as head coach in 2013.
"Gus Bradley does have the rest of the season to stake his claim," Rapoport said on Wednesday's NFL Total Access. "Owner Shad Khan wanted to get a little bit better of a look at what is actually going on with the team. ... So he walked into the team meeting (Monday) and had what was described to me as a fact-finding mission, a way for him to show some support for the players and coaches. Get in the locker room and ask them questions like 'What do I need to do better? What do you guys need and why are we not winning?' It was described to me as positive, and we'll see what effect it has when they take the field on Thursday night."
The Associated Press, which first reported the meeting between Khan and players, described it as an open forum rather than an indictment of their current situation. A person familiar with the situation told NFL.com that Khan also spoke with the Jaguars prior to their matchup against the Colts in London.
This jibes with Khan's attitude. As a well-researched owner, he knows that patience is paramount to team building. Even if Bradley is not the head coach of the future and the team opts to make a chance after the season -- a maneuver that would not be surprising given the one-year extension he received at the end of a five-win 2015 -- the Jaguars are showing potential candidates in the future that they will not rapidly cycle through coaches until they find a short-term answer.
Also, Bradley still has a chance to turn it around. They have stayed afloat in an admittedly bad division despite Blake Bortles playing replacement level football. The bet here is that he'll likely rise slightly to meet last year's numbers.
Should Jacksonville beat Tennessee on Thursday Night Football -- airing exclusively on NFL Network -- it could find itself in a tie for second place. While it might not be exactly what Khan expected, a chance to get into the tournament trumps everything else.
