Jaguars Throw Away Another Win, Still Lack Maturity and Experience

Another Sunday, another game the Jacksonville Jaguars should've won, but failed to do so. They executed their game plan wonderfully and made explosive plays on offense, but four turnovers ruled out a victory.

Of those four turnovers, three occurred in the fourth quarter when the Jaguars were at their closest chances to victory. The team fought ridiculously hard to overcome a 14-3 deficit, and the fact they came back and performed well enough to win really hurts.

Quarterback Blake Bortles was responsible for three of the turnovers, although his first pick also rests on the shoulders of wide receiver Allen Robinson, who deflected the ball into the hands of New York Jets defensive back Marcus Williams.

However, his late fumble and pick, along with kick returner Nick Marshall's awful muffed punt, sealed a losing fate for the Jaguars. Despite a great passing day from Bortles, his mistakes cost the Jaguars the game.

	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	Fumbles	Completion Percentage	Rating
Week 9	381	2	2	1	60.0	87.6
Season	2193	17	10	1	56.0	84.7

Bortles' play has been a paradox this season. His high-volume passing has had the Jaguars offense more explosive than ever, but his turnovers have sealed this game and were factors in the past losses this season.

Going into the second half of the season, one has to wonder if his high number of turnovers, now 11 on the season, is worth all of the the impressive stats that come with it. It provokes thoughts about offensive coordinator Greg Olson's plans to help Bortles throw less to prevent such mistakes.

Bortles will always be a QB who throws a number of picks. His style of play, as exciting and opportunistic as it is, promotes it, and the Jaguars have to find a way to contain it while still playing to his strength, which is a tough task.

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Sunday's 28-23 loss was a severe example of this. Bortles has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders to lead this offense, and that can cause errors like his fumble when he held the ball for far too long to try to make a play.

The Jaguars have done a better job of making him throw away the ball and avoid mistakes, but they won't fully contain it. Going into the second half of the season, however, they need to stress exactly how important his turnover margin is and how "living to fight another day" is something a QB has to realize.

That comes with maturity, and it's apparent the Jaguars are still a very young team. Even all the close games this season won't materialize in wins in the following weeks, and we've seen that. 

But don't mistake results for lack of progress. This team is still much better than the squads of 2014 and 2013, but the lack of experience has made the difference.

Where the Jaguars go from here is uncertain. The Jets were arguably the toughest game remaining after the bye week, and the Jaguars almost won the game despite four turnovers.

There is still ample opportunity for this team to reach its next stage in maturity, and the race for the AFC South is certainly still alive. It's just a matter of learning from days like Sunday.

This loss hurt for the fans, coaches and players. You can see it in the locker room, as seen with Allen Hurns. It doesn't seem like this team has ever been more disappointed as it is right now.

The only thing that will stop the bleeding is the Jaguars themselves. Adversity hasn't been a foreign concept, but the inability to win late is something the Jaguars haven't really experienced until this year, at least not this frequently.

The Jaguars played well on both sides of the ball on Sunday and lacking the experience and fortitude to win late shouldn't take away from that. But until they can overcome the broken record of the first eight games, those positives will be shadowed by the loss column.

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All stats provided by ESPN.com unless otherwise stated.

Evan Reier is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report covering the Jacksonville Jaguars. Follow Evan on Twitter @evanreier.