Bortles at his best directing Jaguars no huddle offense

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For three quarters the Jacksonville Jaguars offense failed to register any points against the Chicago Bears. Trailing 13-0 heading into the fourth quarter, Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson decided to go no huddle with hopes of jump-starting their offense.

It worked.

During the final stanza, Jacksonville rallied to score 17 points leaving the Windy City with a 17-16 win.

“Sometimes a unit needs to be stimulated,” said Jaguars coach Gus Bradley during Monday’s press conference. “We felt like this may stimulate us and give us an opportunity to gain an extra possession.”

Last season quarterback Blake Bortles was at his best directing the no-huddle attack. Against Chicago, Bortles completed 13-of-18 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown, once the Jaguars went no-huddle. Which leads to the question of why don’t the Jaguars use this approach more often?

“In that mode I felt like Blake was very accurate and made plays in that segment. Looking back at it, it was a good adjustment,” said Bradley when asked why Bortles has had success using the no huddle.

Bradley continued, “It’s something we talk about. How do we play our best and where do we go from there. It will be in that discussion.”

On the Jaguars first possession of the game they drove down the field for 84-yards over 12 plays. The drive ended with an interception in the end-zone. Bradley used that drive as an example while explaining that the offense finding consistency is the real issue.

“On the first series we really moved the ball well,” said Bradley. “We huddled, we took our time and we had great execution. So what is the answer? Is it no-huddle or is something within both of those segments?"

Scoring 17 points was enough to beat Chicago. That won’t be enough against some of the better teams in the NFL. The running game continues to be an issue for the Jaguars. They averaged just 2.7 yards on 20 attempts against the Bears. If the Jaguars are going to find the consistency they’re looking for on offense, this is where it starts.

"It all comes back to, why aren’t we playing fast?," said Bradley. "It doesn’t look to me that, when we’re out there, the offensive line, tight ends and everybody, we’re executing. It comes down to execution, technique, but there’s just not a certain speed or urgency in our play. Whether it’s too complicated, something is holding us back from playing as aggressively as we need to in the run game. That’s where our attention is now. How do we get this fixed?”