JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke never developed enough synergy, if any at all.
Pederson thought talent was Jacksonville's bigger issue as losses mounted; Baalke believed coaching was the problem. Regardless, the pairing wasn't working in Year 3 — and everyone inside the building knew it.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan could have justified a complete overhaul. Instead, the billionaire businessman settled for choosing between the duo. He opted for Baalke, a questionable decision that could affect who becomes Jacksonville's next head coach.
Khan fired Pederson on Monday, a day after a 26-23 overtime loss at Indianapolis. It was the team's 18th loss in its last 23 games. More surprising, he kept Baalke.
''I didn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater,'' Khan said during a Zoom.
Khan added that rebooting the coaching staff, the scouting department and the rest of the football operations staff would amount to firing roughly 85 people.
''To change all of that is almost like suicidal," he said. "That's like shooting yourself in the foot. We need to go to work on something that is broken, that needs to be fixed and continually be improving things that are working.''
Khan made the move with one year remaining on Pederson's contract and more than five months after the owner stood in front of coaches and players and declared this the ''best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever."