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Some Jaguars Fans Planning to Dress as Clowns for Week 18 in Hopes of GM Change
January 4, 2022
Frustrated members of the Jacksonville Jaguars fanbase are planning to dress in clown attire for Sunday's regular-season finale at home against the Indianapolis Colts as the franchise wraps up its 13th playoff-less campaign in the past 14 years.
Mark Long of the Associated Press reported Monday the group's goal is to convince Jags owner Shad Khan to fire general manager Trent Baalke.
Some fans have already changed their Twitter avatars to a clown with a mustache resembling the one famously donned by Khan:
Ari Meirov @MySportsUpdateUnhappy with the team keeping GM Trent Baalke, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Jaguars?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Jaguars</a> fans are planning to show up to Sunday's season finale wearing clown costumes. Fans also changed their twitter avatars to a clown with Shad Khan’s mustache and have been replying under every tweet from the team account. <a href="https://t.co/bPb6EcE8GB">pic.twitter.com/bPb6EcE8GB</a>
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported last week Khan planned to retain Baalke, who's held the GM role since taking over on an interim basis in November 2020 following the firing of David Caldwell. He was hired in February 2020 as the team's director of player personnel.
The 57-year-old Wisconsin native previously spent 12 years in the San Francisco 49ers' front office, including six years as general manager, after starting his executive path as a scout with the New York Jets and Washington Football Team.
Jacksonville reached the AFC Championship Game in 2017, but its performance has sharply declined since that high point. It's missed the playoffs each of the past four years and posted an unsightly 3-29 record over the last two seasons.
Hope of improvement this season after selecting quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the 2021 draft didn't materialize. A major reason was the disastrous tenure of former head coach Urban Meyer, who was fired in December after 11 months leading the staff, but the lack of roster upgrades around Lawrence was also a factor.
"It's been a wild year," Lawrence told reporters Sunday. "I haven't been around the NFL long, so I really don't know how everything works. But I'm just trusting who is in leadership positions. I have faith that we are going to come out in a way better spot next year than we are right now."
While it's unclear whether Khan would consider changing his stance on Baalke once the offseason gets underway, some Jags fans are planning to let their voices be heard in a unique way Sunday.