Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen did great work with his team last season. After going 4-13 in 2024, they had one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NFL history, going 13-4. Coen’s offense finished 6th in scoring while the Jaguars defense was 8th in points allowed. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence cracked 4,000 yards and finished with a career-high 29 touchdowns. Yet nobody seems to be talking about Jacksonville going into the 2026 season. Coen has a big problem with that.
During an appearance on 1010 XL-AM in Jacksonville, he expressed frustration that his team isn’t getting any respect. He illustrated this by pulling up NFL.com and pointing out that there were zero mentions of it. Meanwhile, the league posts about Caleb Williams everywhere.
“You don’t have to make up the fire. You don’t have to make it up. It’s given to us every day. It’s a gift from the heavens. I just go pull out of my phone, look up the NFL Network web site and just pop it up here and I’m curious if I see any photos, or anything, about the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think I’ll just scroll right on through.
“I think I’ll see 40 pictures of Caleb Williams and I won’t see a single thing about any of players on here. So it’s beautiful … I’m going to tell these guys how much you all think they suck, and we’ll keep going.”
Pulling the Chicago Bears’ young quarterback into his quarrel was certainly a choice. Coen almost sounded as if he resents the idea that Williams gets all this attention. After all, his quarterback had the better statistical season. His quarterback won more games.
Liam Coen is certainly poking the bear.
He believes his team deserves more respect. Meanwhile, that team lost in the first round of the playoffs. At home, mind you. That is probably a big reason nobody is talking about them. Going 13-4 is great. It means very little when you can’t defend your home field in the most important game of the season. He also glossed over the brutal interception his quarterback threw in the final minute of the game when the Jaguars only needed a field goal to force overtime. There are always reasons the media doesn’t pay attention to you.
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Choosing to take a slight dig at Williams was certainly a choice for Liam Coen. Few in the NFL are better at holding grudges. The Bears’ quarterback has a strong presence online. He was almost certain to notice the head coach’s comment. That was soon confirmed when he retweeted video of it on Twitter (X). Let’s not forget that Jacksonville plays the Bears this season. They come to Chicago on December 6th. Why would Coen give them any extra incentive than they already need to win that game?
Coen better hope his team can back up his claims.
Jacksonville caught the NFL by surprise last season. Nobody expected them to become that good so quickly. They no longer have the element of surprise on their side. Also, their schedule is way tougher this year. Seven of their scheduled games will be against opponents who were in the playoffs last season, including the Bears. That doesn’t include Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Dallas, who are much tougher than their underwhelming records last season would indicate. If Coen is right about these Jaguars, then they should navigate that with no issue.
The team didn’t get much better on paper this offseason. They signed only three free agents, and all were mid-tier or lower. They had no 1st round pick because of the Travis Hunter trade in the 2025 draft. At the same time, they lost quality running back Travis Etienne and star linebacker Devin Lloyd to free agency. This is not the same team that won 13 games last year. You can bet Williams aims to prove that in a few months. Jacksonville better be prepared to reap the whirlwind.
