Jaguars safety accuses team of quitting during loss vs. Bears: ‘We weren’t playing as one’

The Jacksonville Jaguars returned to the loss column on Sunday after earning their first win of the season in Week 5, and following the team’s latest defeat, safety Andre Cisco had a lot to say.

He said he saw “a lot of quit” from defensive players and added that there’s no excuse for a lack of effort.

“It was really bad,” Cisco said. “I just … I feel like it was … how should I say this … a lot of quit. Last line of defense in a situation like that you could feel when we’re playing as one and when we’re not. It felt very early in the game, maybe at halftime, that we weren’t playing as one. Guys got to understand, when you’re out there, you’re really playing for your brother. You’re putting guys in vulnerable positions whether that’s physically or just from a career aspect.

“… Sunday, when it counts, we understand that’s the hardest part, but there’s no excuse for lack of effort. That’s literally the least you can do, is come out and give effort. I’m saying that to myself, too.”

Cisco and his skipper Doug Pederson might not be on the same page when it comes to the quitting observation because Pederson had something very different to say.

“I feel like the guys are — they don’t quit,” Pederson said. “They keep fighting. We’ve got to figure out how to just get out of our way and just play football. I say that and it sounds easy, but it’s tough. It’s a tough game to play and we didn’t expect to be here in this spot and now we’ve got to find a way to get out of it.”

But Pederson did say that his team needs to avoid sliding into a bigger hole and called on players, coaches and everyone to change the culture.

The Jags were embarrassed by the Chicago Bears on Sunday in London, with Chicago earning an easy 35-16 victory. The outcome gave Jacksonville its fifth loss of the season. At 1-5, the team will face an uphill climb if it wants to save its season.

Pederson’s squad has been competitive in most games this season, but that certainly wasn’t the case on Sunday, and there was also a game earlier in the campaign in which the Jags were dominated by the Buffalo Bills to the tune of a 47-10 final score.

The Bears have been a nice surprise this season and now boast a 4-2 record, but Jacksonville was still favored going into the game. It was ultimately a matchup that the Jags could’ve used to get back on track. Instead, it turned into another step in the wrong direction.

Jacksonville’s next chance to turn things around will come in Week 7 against the New England Patriots in another London game. That should give the Jags a chance to get their second win of the season, but only if they correct some of the issues that plagued them against the Bears.

In each of the last two seasons, Jacksonville went 9-8, making the playoffs in the 2022 campaign but missing out in the 2023 season. The team will be in danger of missing the playoffs again this season if something doesn’t change soon, and it could even finish below .500.