JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For the past few weeks many Jacksonville Jaguar fans changed their profile pictures on social media to images of clowns to show their frustration over the way the team has been managed. On Sunday many of them also dressed up as clowns for the final game of the season.
Welcome to the carnival. They wore red noses, rainbow hair or any acknowledgement of previous failures were seen throughout TIAA Bank Field.
"We're tired of being the laughing stock of the NFL world," said one fan who called himself 'Bozo.' "We're a laughing stock and we're showing it today."
"This organization is run like a clown show," said another fan who donned rainbow hair and a red nose.
"The coaching staff, the general manager, everyone needs to do a better job," says Jaguars fan Joe Rossello. "They need to make better decisions and they need to be held accountable. That's what today is about."
It's also still about having fun under their version of the big top. And with the most losses in the NFL over the past 2 seasons, it's time to send in the clowns.
"This is a total visual that we're done and ready to move on," said Jessie Pawlish sporting a red nose. "We need the next new thing and the next best thing and we got to get rid of [General Manager Trent] Baalke."
Some fans already know who they want in charge of the team next season.
"Urban Meyer was a mistake but we can make it better with Byron Leftwich," said fan John Michael. "Someone who's been here before and knows what it's like to be in Jacksonville."
So many of the fans that spoke with First Coast News say that they truly love the Jaguars and that's why they're still showing up to games. All of the clown outfits are a message to ownership: Just get better.
"Still love the team, still love Shad Khan," says Jaguars fan David Meyer, "but he's got to hire better people."
"The people who are still here after the past 10 years aren't going anywhere," says Stephen Solliday, "so we're the core of the people who care about the team and live and die with it, mostly die."
These fans love the Jaguars, and they're not clowning around.
