Late Wednesday evening, our short, regional nightmare came to an end and the Jacksonville Jaguars fired Urban Meyer. It was the culmination of a stint that was full of player disagreements, miserable moments, viral video scandals, and running reports of bad behavior behind the scenes.
Meyer was 2-11 as an NFL head coach and he will almost certainly never get the chance to do it again, even if he wanted to, which we can’t imagine he does.
The fallout caused a lot of reactions across social media on Wednesday night and that carried over into Thursday. You’ll find very few people defending Meyer and many people in NFL circles have been calling for this move for weeks. If anything, we’ve heard that the stories from inside the building were only going to keep coming and get worse, and there was only so long Shad Khan could sit there and defend his coach.
Meanwhile, Meyer did not endear himself to NFL players, and plenty of them, current or former, chimed in on social media with some thoughts on the coach getting fired. And not many of them were supportive…
Urban will bounce back. I understand misery loves company.
— Michael Thomas (@Cantguardmike) December 16, 2021
The Jaguars really thought they were gonna fire Urban Meyer while we were asleep, like we’re not gonna wake up and see it.
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) December 16, 2021
https://twitter.com/ochocinco/status/1471467382375911429?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1471467382375911429%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fgod-bless-current-former-nfl-players-react-to-jaguars-firing-urban-meyer-152701715.html
Reallllllly felt like the Urbs was trying to get fired this whole time.
— Teej. (@TJLang70) December 16, 2021
He has ruined his reputation at this point. I’m not even sure he could do college again. https://t.co/PRoZqrHc8u
— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) December 16, 2021
This time, Shad, got it right
— Josh Scobee (@JoshScobee10) December 16, 2021
Here lies one of the biggest issue Rich, he didn’t regard himself as a rookie coach. In fact, he was furious about a player referring to him as a rookie coach in a speech the player gave to the defense.
1st time coaches in the NFL have to prove themselves just like a player does https://t.co/Q3bHeikaGV— Jay Feely (@jayfeely) December 16, 2021
It’s rare that you see a head coach get as universally disliked as Urban Meyer did during his short stint with the Jaguars. But it just goes to show you the gap that exists between coaching in college football where you have all the power and coaching the NFL where everyone shares it. Meyer simply wasn’t cut out for that.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.