Doug Marrone: Blake Bortles will remain Jags’ starting QB

Gus Bradley may not have made it to the end of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ season, but it looks like Blake Bortles will.

Jaguars interim head coach Doug Marrone said on Monday that Bortles will remain the team’s starting quarterback for the final two games of the season.

“I am sticking with Blake,” Marrone said, per Phillip Heilman of the Florida Times-Union. “A lot of the foundation is laid in place. My job is to make sure that the people that are touching the football team understand the direction we’re headed and how we feel and recognize that and to be able to move forward at a very difficult time.”

Marrone took over after Bradley was (somewhat awkwardly) fired following a disastrous loss to the Houston Texans in Week 15. But the great irony here is that Bradley’s stubborn own insistence on sticking with Bortles likely played a big part in his ultimate downfall.

Bortles has been a model of ineptitude under center for Jacksonville this season, regressing after a stellar 2015 campaign to the tune of 3,279 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and 16 picks (tied for second-most in the league) through 14 games. Marrone may just want to give the 24-year-old signal caller the opportunity to finish the year with some confidence. But if the team wants to keep betting the farm on Bortles over and over again, they’re in trouble.