Going into the fourth quarter, the Jacksonville Jaguars appeared to have clinched a victory over the Houston Texans. Instead, the team completely collapsed, allowing the Texans to score 26 unanswered points and send the Jags home humiliated.
There wasn't much good to be found on the field for Jags fans. The late-game collapse was so severe that the Jacksonville offense racked up just one yard total through the entire fourth quarter. And while there's plenty of blame to go around, one unit in particular has a lot of questions to answer.
The offensive line completely and utterly broke down Sunday. While the unit started the season off strong, it has become increasingly worse, right up to Week 10, with one of the most embarrassing losses the Jaguars have had in years.
The Jaguars’ offensive line breakdown fuels late-game loss to Texans
So just how bad was the Jaguars offensive line against the Texans? Well, throughout the entire game, they gave up six sacks and 20 pressures, and in the fourth quarter alone, they allowed three sacks and a 100 percent pressure rate. They didn't have a good ranking ahead of Week 10, and it certainly won't get better after it.
It's no surprise that they're one of the worst-graded units in the league. Plenty of fans and analysts alike are quick to point at Trevor Lawrence as the problem, but how could any quarterback accomplish anything under these circumstances?
The offensive line's failures don't just affect Lawrence, either. A terrible offensive line means one of the Jaguars' main weapons on offense — Travis Etienne — can't be effective, either. And a lot of the penalties plaguing Jacksonville have also come from (you guessed it!) the offensive line.
It is long past time for the Jaguars to take serious action, both in the short-term and the long-term. For now, Liam Coen needs to bench Walker Little, who has had more than enough time to prove that he's more of a liability than he is an asset.
With the offensive line issues, everything promising about this Jaguars team has evaporated. It's time for Jacksonville to begin looking ahead to bolster the unit in free agency, where there aren't a ton of options, meaning competition to sign them will be fierce. There are two good options within their own division, though — Bernhard Raimann and Braden Smith — with the former especially being one the Jaguars should seriously go after.