Shad Khan arrived in Jacksonville as an energized new owner promising to turn around the fortunes of the floundering Jaguars. One year in, Khan has some big decisions to make.
The team is 1-7 and showing too many of the same weaknesses that made last year's Jaguars outfit a disaster.
Khan said this week he'll wait until after the season to evaluate the performance of first-year coach Mike Mularkey and longtime general manager Gene Smith. Both men signed three-year contracts, but they won't be judged as a package deal.
"What I want to evaluate is really the organization," Khan told The Florida Times-Union. "I think people are one part of it."
Khan was asked if Mularkey's on a longer leash just one year into coaching the team. The owner was vague.
"Some of these answers might not be satisfying," Khan said. "The simple fact is I really want to satisfy people in the short-term. But what's more important is the long-term. We don't (want to) make the wrong decisions now that we pay a price over time. This is a life lesson. You have to be concerned about short-term ... but you don't want to be making decisions that compromise the success of the organization in the long-term."
Our advice: It would be a good idea for Mularkey to win a few games sooner than later. The season -- which continues Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts -- is slipping away into an abyss, but Khan chafed at the notion that losing has become comfortable for the Jaguars.
"There's nobody here that's happy with the results," Khan said.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
