Before kickoff of the Jacksonville Jaguars Week 17 matchup against the Tennessee Titans, enterprising Jaguars fans hired a plane to fly over EverBank Stadium with a banner expressing their opinion of general manager Trent Baalke’s performance. They also had some advice for the Jaguars’ owner, Shad Khan.
The banner read, “Shad — Fire Baalke! For Duval!” With Jaguars fans experiencing another losing season and left rooting for draft position, their frustration has spilled over from just expressing it in the stadium.
Entering Week 17, the Jaguars are 3-12, and since Baalke was hired as the GM in 2020, the team has posted just two winning seasons. With the Jaguars having one of the more exciting young quarterbacks in the NFL in Trevor Lawrence, fans hoped their fortunes would turn around, but they’ve yet to do so. Head coach Doug Pederson also remains on the hot seat with no guarantees he’ll have a job next season. Pederson is a Super Bowl-winning coach but has yet to build a championship contender in Jacksonville.
In finding a way to send a message to ownership, Jaguars fans took inspiration from frustrated New York Giants fans who found themselves in a similar position. In Weeks 14 and 15, fans of Big Blue hired two different planes to send similar messages to Giants owner Jon Mara.
In Week 15, the banner over MetLife Stadium read, “Mr. Mara, enough: We won’t stop until you fire everyone.”
Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are also on the hot seat. They could be joining Baalke and Pederson as casualties of “Black Monday,” the infamous day after the NFL regular season ends and personnel from losing teams are let go.
Fans finding ways to express their frustration is certainly nothing new, but getting their messages in the sky is a more recent development. For Jaguars fans hoping for some change, maybe sending a dramatic message before the season ends could lead to something meaningful.