Most teams out of playoff contention use the final four games of the year to assess their situation going forward.

What do we need?

How can we get better?

While the Jaguars have needs all over the field, the game against Indianapolis exposed the glaring weaknesses they have if they have any thought of getting better.

Andrew Luck is an excellent quarterback and even without Reggie Wayne, he’s figured out how to find the open guy and get it to him on a regular basis. He showed over and over that the Jaguars biggest need is creating a pass rush.

It’s not just somebody on the defensive line; it’s anybody who can get to the quarterback. Whether it’s an edge rusher from defensive end or linebacker or somebody who can push the pocket backwards towards the quarterback, the Jaguars defense will always be on their heels without that kind of pressure up front. Sen’Derrick Marks is a good building block and Andre Branch seems to have figured that part of the game out but without any fear of a pass rush, opposing quarterbacks will continue to have fun anytime they face the Jaguars.

At linebacker, Paul Posluszny is the only sure thing. Either one of the current guys has to emerge or GM Dave Caldwell will have to find something better. Guys who can cover and stop the run are hard to find but it’s a necessity they have to be willing to spend to get either in free agency or with a high pick in the draft.

The defensive backfield is more complicated. Jonathan Cyprien is a guy you can build around; everybody else has been a little slower than anticipated to develop. While the Jaguars spent a lot of time, money and picks on that position last year, they might have to go back to the drawing board to upgrade.

Everybody knows the Jaguars need a quarterback.

Nobody can agree on what to do about it right now.

Without a clear-cut franchise player in the draft at that position, it might be another year before the team has a new starter. There are no franchise-type QB’s in free agency that are coming to Jacksonville and there are no saviors in the draft either. But that doesn’t mean the Jaguars future QB isn’t out there. I just don’t think he’s there in the first round. With 10 draft picks, selecting a quarterback somewhere in the first three rounds, looking for somebody to develop is imperative. Watching Chad Henne miss open receivers against the Colts was painful. But it’s something Jaguars fans should expect for at least half the season in 2014. A.J. McCarron would be a good fit and available at the right spot in the draft.

It’s hard to predict what they’ll do at wide receiver since Justin Blackmon’s indefinite suspension leaves his situation up in the air. There’s no downside to keeping Blackmon and taking advantage of his skills. They don’t owe him that much and one more transgression and he’s out of the league permanently. After his injury history, it’s not hard to understand if the Jaguars have a little question as to whether Cecil Shorts can stay healthy enough to be a regular contributor. The rest of the guys on the roster at that position are nice slot receivers and backups but without a solid number one or number two, it’s where Caldwell and Gus Bradley will earn their money.

With less emphasis on the running back position in general in the NFL, finding guys who can run and block isn’t that difficult. They’re out there. But I do think the Jaguars will offer Maurice Jones Drew a deal he’ll probably take. He’s lost that second-level speed but can be a good compliment to Jordan Todman or anybody else they find.

At tight end, Marcedes Lewis has a decision to make on his own. He has superstar, Pro Bowl skills, but he hasn’t been that kind of consistent offensive presence you hope to have from an eight-year veteran. Sometimes he’s a force, other times he plays as if it’s the paycheck and not the performance that counts.

On the offensive line is where I think the Jaguars will be active in free agency. Potentially at center and guard. They like Luke Joeckel at tackle and Bradfield and Pasztor have been serviceable and they like one of those guys to develop into a legitimate starter.

If most NFL rosters have about a 40% turnover, the Jaguars will be substantially higher than that. With the number 3 pick in the draft (finishing 4-12) and a pocketful of cap space and money to spend, you have to put some faith in Caldwell and Bradley to make the right decisions.

You never know what to expect from two teams not going to the playoffs facing each other at the end of the season. The Jaguars are going to play hard; you know that from what they’ve done all year. Tennessee also played hard, kind of surprising since they weren’t going anywhere and their backup quarterback was still their starter.

At 4-10 and 5-9 (amazingly with second place on the line in the division) both coaches played the game as you would have hoped: loose, entertaining and with a little edge. In the first half alone, the Jaguars and Titans went for it on 4th down 4 times. One Tennessee attempt was at 4th and goal on the 1. One Jaguars attempt was a mid field. While you might not think that’s sound football judgment, when you’re not playing for anything but to win THIS game, I like it.

The Jaguars put together a nifty two-minute drill at the end of the half to take a 13-6 lead. Inexplicably, the PAT was blocked by a guy coming off the edge, leaving the Jaguars lead at 7 instead of eight.

As the second half started, you could sense a momentum shift towards the titans. Despite another successful 4th down attempt by the Jaguars, they could only muster a field goal and lead 16-6. For the next 12 minutes it was all Titans. Two TD drives, helped along by Jaguars penalties and obvious defensive mistakes, gave Tennessee a 20-16 lead.

Playing with backups and third stringers, attrition stared to deplete the Jaguars lineup in pretty stark ways. They started the day without Geno Hayes and Russell Allen at linebacker and lost DT Brandon Deadrick in the first half. So it was relatively easy for the Titans to take advantage of that. One thing Head Coach Gus Bradley had talked about this week was better communication in the defensive backfield. That didn’t happen, allowing the Titans a pretty simple TD to take a 3rd quarter lead.

Working the ball downfield and down 4 points, the Jaguars faced 4th down inside the Tennessee 35 yard line. Bradley decided to stay aggressive and went for it, only to have MJD stoned at the line of scrimmage. As much as I like that attitude at this point in the season, I think I’d have taken the 3 points there to pull within one FG of a win.

Instead, the Titans ran the ball in their 4-minute offense to perfection, barely giving the Jaguars a chance to make a difference.

Chad Henne tried to sneak one over the nickel back to Marcedes Lewis one too many times and was intercepted to end the game.

The Jaguars are now 4-11 and will finish in the 3rd spot in the AFC South (making a difference in their schedule next year, probably for the better.)

In their final home game of the year, the Jaguars proved two things:
1) They still can and do play hard.
2) They still need a lot of help.

When a coach and general manager start looking to build on the offensive and defensive lines, you often hear the phrase, “He can be a cornerstone there for the next decade,” a lot. That rarely happens between injury, free agency and the vagaries of the NFL Having more than 10 years in the league as a productive player is difficult.

Jaguars center Brad Meester not only met those goals, he by far exceeded them in his 14-year career. Meester announced on Wednesday that he’s retiring at the end of this season, making Sunday’s game against Tennessee his final appearance at home.

It would be hard to overstate the positive effect Meester has had on the Jaguars throughout his career. Rarely injured, Meester holds the record for most consecutive starts at 92 and is currently tied for second in that category as well. He’s blocked for both Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones Drew, being a part of the offensive line that helped MJD to the rushing title three years ago.

He’s played for ever one of the Jaguars head coaches, adapting to each of their styles with ease. “Its different,” Brad told me after the Thursday night win over the Texans referring to Gus Bradley’s coaching philosophy. “Way different, but it’s working.” Along the way, different offensive line coaches and offensive coordinators have wanted different things out of their veteran center. One set wanted speed, so Brad came to camp well under 300 lbs. Another wanted power up front so he came in over 330 (and didn’t like it).

Football fans know the center position is difficult, blending speed, quickness and toughness with a cerebral capacity to recognize defenses and make the appropriate line calls to combat them.

Although he started his career at guard (48 starts) after being the Jaguars second round draft pick, everybody knew he was the center of the future. It was easy to recognize that Meester had all of the qualities necessary to do that job and do it well.

He said after the Buffalo game last Sunday he stayed up late and thought about whether he might retire or not, and decided the time was right. “People don’t realize what goes on in a locker room. And that’s probably what I’ll miss most. The time with the guys, before, during and after games, it’s something special.”

To a man, players say the same thing about Meester: He’s the guy they looked to when they wanted to know how to act like a pro, on and off the field. He’s exemplified what it means to be a professional athlete in his performance and his persona.

That’s why they should put Brad in the Pride of the Jaguars as soon as possible. He’s exactly what the Pride is about: professionalism, performance, hard work, and community standing. He’s a guy the Jaguars can always be proud to say he wore their uniform.

If they don’t put him in, they should take the rest of the names off the wall because when you look up there and see BRAD MEESTER 2000-2013, that’ll be something to be proud of.

“Learning how to win” sounds like such a trite phrase but when it comes to a pretty equal competition, it’s the team that knows how to win, or figures it out that comes out on top.

My friend and ten-time Grand Slam champion Tony Trabert attributes winning to “knowing how to play the big points” in tennis.

In the second half of the season, the Jaguars look like they’re learning how “to play the big points.” In the first half of the year, the Jaguars looked outmanned every time they took the field. And save for Oakland and St. Louis, they were. But since the bye, Tennessee, Houston and Cleveland have had problems of their own equal to the Jaguars. And in those games the Jags have held their own, taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes. And that’s how you win in the NFL.

You have to prepare, you have to execute, but when the opponent gives you an opportunity, you have to make them pay.

In the first half against Houston, the Jaguars did just that. Penalties and miscues by the Texans gave the Jaguars several “second” chances and they pounced on them, scoring 17 points.

While Houston had lost 10 straight coming into this game, they still have a lot of talent on their roster and remember, this is a team that was one of the favorites to go to the Super Bowl in 2013. They also know how to win, they just forgot for a while.

So when the Jaguars stopped producing on offense, the Texans took advantage of field position and made a game of it. It didn’t hurt Houston that Head Coach Gary Kubiak put Matt Schaub in the game at quarterback. Schaub has played road games in the Jacksonville and knows the Jaguars aren’t going to put a lot of pressure on him in the pocket. So in his first drive he marched the Texans right down the field for a way-too-easy TD, 24-17 Jaguars.

You could tell Schaub was playing “angry” with some real purpose in his actions. In fact, he brought some life to a heretofore-lifeless Texans team.

And this is where the Jaguars started making crucial mistakes.

Houston sends in their kicker to attempt a 51-yard field goal on 4th and 10. He misses it but the Jaguars are penalized for 12 men on the field. So Kubiak sends his offense back on the field and they convert easily. A much easier 30-yarder is made and it’s 24-20 Jaguars.

What a team does in times of stress is a good measure of who they actually are. In this situation the Jaguars could have stayed on their heels and let the Texans take control of the game. Instead, they relied on their instincts, went back to what they do best and that’s play hard. They’re not going to “out talent” anybody and when they are successful it’s usually pretty. But if you’re looking for effort, they’ll deliver.

Two different times, the Texans had the ball with a chance to take the lead but instead the defense for the Jaguars made a play. Once on fourth down and another with an interception by Geno Hayes that lead to a Scobee field goal and a 27-20 lead.

Say what you want about the quality of the opponents or how their winning but there’s something going on with Gus Bradley and the Jaguars that has a very positive feel about it.

Maybe this win didn’t change any minds of those watching around the country who like to make fun of Jacksonville and the Jaguars but here in town, and inside the stadium, there’s a momentum being built that has the potential to create a lot of fun.