Darrell Bevell and Brian Schottenheimer now lead Jaguars offense after being fired from Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks to Jacksonville Jaguars pipeline is so weird.

Seattle traded for Sidney Jones this year, while former Seahawks Shaquill Griffin, Carlos Hyde, and Jacob Hollister are all currently with the Jaguars.

Not to mention, there are six coaches formerly under Pete Carroll who are on the Jacksonville staff.

Two of them now lead the offense, after an unmet offensive potential got them fired from Seattle.

Darrell Bevell became interim head coach for the second time in two years after Urban Meyer’s unorthodox behavior resulted in his mid-season firing.

Bevell was the offensive coordinator for Seattle from 2011-2018. Many around the dinner table are now referring to this as the “Russell Wilson Golden Era”

Schottenheimer replaced Bevell, and was the offensive coordinator from 2018-2020. Around the water cooler, these are referred to as the “Win-the-division-but-lose-in-the-first-round-let’s-fire-Pete” years.

They’re not out of the NFL, they’re leading a franchise, and a thumpin’ good one at that. The Jaguars have two (2) well deserved wins, which is far more than you or I have this year.

But in all seriousness both men saw incredible high marks as coaches in Seattle, accompanied with typically painful postseason struggles. In the end, it was Pete Carroll who decided to move on from both.

Remember Russell Wilson apparently did not sign off on firing Brian Schottenheimer. They were close friends who worked together. It was Wilson who said Schottenheimer is a “tremendous coach, a tremendous teacher” while Schotty had the rare ability to critique Wilson, saying he believed the QB needed to “simplify his thinking.” Meanwhile, Pete Carroll said “we have to run the ball more.”

Amid a very disappointing 2021 season, questions have waxed and waned regarding new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. I think what happens with him, and with the offense, and with Russell Wilson over the next couple years should prove interesting. Neither departed coach left the league, they still had value to other NFL teams.

It is true that unmet expectations might be nobody’s fault, and things didn’t roll Seattle’s way. Over time, change can become necessarily simply for change’s sake, which might have been the case with Bevell and Schottenheimer. But as they are both still gainfully employed, and yet another “wizard” of the chalkboard has not been able to fix known Russell Wilson limitations, it makes one wonder. We’re not at the point where three playcallers have been fired in Wilson’s wake and then found shining success elsewhere. But it has begun to prove that the magic bullet coach might not be a reality in this situation.

Anyway, even if Jacksonville doesn’t win a single game the rest of the year, the remainder of the season will be undoubtedly more successful than the 11 month desecration of common sense that was the Urban Meyer experiment. Bevell and Schottenheimer, while yelled at on screens across the state for a decade, have sterling reputations. It’s unique and super cool that a pair of former coaches from the same team now have the reins to just the worst offense imaginable but in the hands of a highly-touted quarterback. I hope they are able to have some fun with it and show something for a couple of games.