After defeating the Texans 23-18 in Week 13, the young Jaguars had high hopes of making the postseason. But they proceeded to lose their next three games before dropping their season finale today in Cleveland.

Despite Jacksonville’s 23-17 loss to the Browns in which the Jags allowed 300 total yards and 214 rushing yards, Jack Del Rio’s job appears to be safe for now. Michael C. Wright of the Florida Times-Union wrote via his Twitter page that Del Rio would be with the Jaguars next season, although he didn’t go into any detail as to why.

T-Bone, one of our regular readers, brought up a good point last week about NFL teams possibly playing things cautiously when it comes to coaching hires because of a potential lockout in 2011. They don’t want to pay a new head coach boatloads of money with a threat of a lockout coming in two years. Granted, that’s just an observation, but it’s one that might have teeth.

Del Rio had a young team that wasn’t supposed to compete this year and given their overall inexperience, it’s not a complete shock that they faded down the stretch. For the most part, I think he did a decent job keeping them in contention until the final month of the season. Had they beat Indianapolis a few weeks ago on Thursday night when they were matching the Colts score-for-score, the Jags might be getting ready for the postseason right now.

Some may look at the Jags’ effort today in Cleveland and make a case that Del Rio should go. But there’s not much shame losing to a Browns team that finished the season on a tear and that found a gem in running back Jerome Harrison. Again, I think the Jags’ collapse had more to do with their youth than Del Rio’s lack of coaching. But Jacksonville fans may have a different opinion.