After the Jaguars’ embarrassing loss in Buffalo, more than 300 days have passed since Lawrence last led a team to victory.
Jacksonville Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence talks about losing streak
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence hasn’t won a start in nearly 300 days, but what does he think about that ahead of the MNF duel against the Bills?
It has been 302 days – almost ten months – since Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence led the team to a victory.
That was a 24-21 win over the Houston Texans on November 26, 2023. It was a big win at the time, the second of back-to-back AFC division victories that avenged a home loss to the Texans two months earlier and gave the Jags the division lead. They entered Monday night’s home game against Cincinnati with an 8-3 record, tied with Kansas City for second place in the AFC.
The Jaguars lost to the Bengals in overtime by 34-31. Substitute CJ Beathard had to finish the game after Lawrence was out with an ankle injury.
And nothing has been the same since. The Jaguars have a 1-8 record since then, and Lawrence was a spectator at the only win during that time, watching Beathard play with the hapless Carolina Panthers.
How many games in a row has Trevor Lawrence lost?
Monday’s 47-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, NY, was the Jaguars’ eighth consecutive loss with Lawrence as the starter, his last five in 2023 and all three games this season.
All the grim statistics can be recited ad nauseam: Lawrence completed 21 of 38 passes for 178 yards and only his second touchdown pass of the season. He completed 10 of 22 passes, or 59 yards, in the first half as the Bills (3-0) took a 34-3 lead.
Lawrence was sacked four times and threw his first interception of the season, a miserably wide throw over the head of a completely unmarked Brian Thomas Jr. when the team was still salvageable.
“You can’t miss it,” Lawrence said during his postgame press conference about Damar Hamlin’s interception.
Buffalo had as many touchdowns in the first half as the Jaguars had first downs, and when the teams went to the locker rooms for halftime, Lawrence had not scored a single touchdown in four straight first-half quarters.
“I have to play well to have a chance to win … that’s the NFL,” Lawrence said. “Disappointing would be an understatement. I thought we had a chance to show who we are on Monday night in prime time.”
Maybe the Jaguars did it.
Coach Doug Pederson had no easy answers for Lawrence after the game.
“If he’s anything like me, we’re all kind of down and not very high,” he said. “We’ve got to keep working and keep pushing and work our way out of there. It’s not for a lack of effort. Sometimes you’ve got to get out of your own way.”
Trevor Lawrence was prone to losing streaks in the NFL
But the real numbers, the only numbers that matter, are even worse than any passing statistic in the long run. Lawrence’s 0-8 record in those 302 days is a step back to his rookie season in 2021, when the Jaguars lost the first five games of the second season and then lost eight in a row after beating Miami in London and the Bills at home in three games.
It seems to be part of his pattern as a pro. When Lawrence played at Cartersville, Georgia, and then at Clemson, those teams had a combined record of 96-4. At one point he won 68 straight high school and college regular season games. He didn’t know much except winning.
But even though he led the Jaguars to the playoffs in 2022, won one playoff game, and then won eight of his first 11 games last season (giving him a 15-6 record over that span, two of them in the playoffs), he was prone to terrible losing streaks.
During his recent slump, Lawrence has completed 58.3 percent of his passes for 1,830 yards, 10 touchdowns, nine interceptions and 21 sacks. His passer rating is 76.14.
Trevor Lawrence will always take the main blame as QB1
The blame, of course, lies with the performance of the offensive line. With injuries to reliable receivers like Christian Kirk and Evan Engram, Lawrence lacks players with a good safety level. The defense does not force turnovers to give Lawrence short fields.
Also not to be underestimated is the never-ending soap opera surrounding the play calls between Pederson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor and the impact this has on Lawrence.
But “generational quarterbacks” who sign contracts worth $275 million for the next five years are expected to overcome such obstacles. And in the most profitable sport of all, Lawrence has a 38.3 percent winning percentage as an NFL starter, up from a 96.0 percent rate in high school and college.
“We have to take all the responsibility, all the criticism, all the scrutiny,” Lawrence said. “I know I’m not playing as well as I could. It’s tough, but it’s not that tough and we made it look tough.”
Lawrence said the team will likely be grateful for the short week before playing at Houston on Sunday.
“Watch the video, make the corrections and move on as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s a good week for a short week. We have to move on and get it over with. Enough talk. We’re not going to fool ourselves.”
