LONDON – A familiar theme was all-too familiar Sunday.
The Jaguars on Sunday lost for the fifth time in six games this season, and for the 10th time in 12 games overall. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence reiterated what has been reiterated before: The Jaguars must respond to difficult situations much, much better.
"As a team, we can't be so fragile," Lawrence said.
Lawrence, the Jaguars' fourth-year starting quarterback, spoke immediately after a 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Sunday afternoon – echoing the thoughts of Head Coach Doug Pederson, who spoke to the media several minutes earlier.
"That's kind of the obvious, right?" Pederson said. "Right now, those are things that are sort of plaguing us – the mistakes, and being able to overcome the mistakes.
"Those are things obviously we have to look at and correct."
Pederson added, "We have 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."
Lawrence, as he and other players have done previously this season, spoke afterward of the need to overcome adversity.
"It's not going to go perfect every week," Lawrence said. "Most weeks aren't going to go perfect. Sometimes you have to dig yourself out of a hole."
The Jaguars out-gained the Bears 98-7 in the first quarter, but led just 3-0.The Bears then out-gained the Jaguars 216-13 with 13 first downs to zero for the Jaguars in the second quarter to take a 14-3 halftime lead with quarterback Caleb Williams passing for two second-quarter touchdowns to tight end Cole Kmet.
"We had an opportunity to come out of halftime and didn't take advantage of it," Lawrence said.
The Jaguars took possession at the start of the second half trailing by 11 points, but tight end Evan Engram fumbled after a 24-yard gain to the Bears 40 on the first play of the third quarter. The Bears scored on their ensuing possession and the Jaguars never were closer than 11 points again.
"You're never going to be perfect," Lawrence said. "We let those mistakes kind of accumulate and just pile on, but you're never going to play perfect. If you are waiting to play perfect, you're not going to win a lot of games. I think as a team we do have to be better at overcoming adversity."
Lawrence added, "We've done it before. I've seen us pull ourselves out of holes bigger than this. It's challenging and but you can't look at it as all this stuff that we have to do. We just have to take it one day at a time when we get a time.
"I've lost a lot of games, and we have to change that around here. We have to be the ones to do it. We have to take accountability. We have to go play well and find a way to win. It's not going to go perfect, but just find a way to win in the end and put yourself in position to.
"How we respond is the biggest thing. Take it for what it is, then move on."
NOTABLE WEEK 6 GAME MOMENTS
- Pederson in the wake of a second one-sided loss in four games smiled when asked what positive he could take from Sunday. "Great question," he said, adding that the team's comparatively strong start Sunday could be the answer. The Jaguars drove steadily on their opening drive after forcing a first-drive three-and-out defensively, missing a touchdown when veteran wide receiver Gabe Davis dropped a pass from Lawrence in the end zone on third-and-goal from the Bears 12. The Jaguars held a 6-0 first-down advantage in the quarter. "I know it's a small thing, but we haven't really started football games well this year," Pederson said. "We've given up points, and we've been off the field. I thought today was a positive. We got them off the field early, and then offense went down and put points on the board. We dropped a touchdown, but we still put points on the board. I think that's a step in the right direction."
QUOTABLE WEEK 6 POSTGAME MOMENTS
- Pederson on remaining in London this week to prepare for a home game against the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium next Sunday: "It's huge for us to be here as a football team, to be around each other, support each other, keep encouraging each other. There's nowhere for us to go. We're at the hotel and we see each other every day. We just have to support each other and then keep picking each other up."
