JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Here’s a look at the first half of the season for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-6) and a preview of what to expect in the second half.

Grade: D-. The Jaguars were supposed to be contenders in the AFC South or at the very least have a chance to win nine games. So far, they haven’t come close to meeting those expectations. Things have been anything but smooth: Quarterback Blake Bortles has regressed, mechanically; the run game has been among the worst in the NFL (Jacksonville is on pace to set a franchise-low in rushing at 72.6 yards per game); and the defense hasn’t been effective in rushing the passer or forcing turnovers. The Jaguars have had three blowout losses, including one on national television against Tennessee on Oct. 27. They have also failed to capitalize on chances to win games late in the fourth quarter against Green Bay and Baltimore, because of poor execution on offense. Head coach Gus Bradley, who entered the season 12-36 and likely needed at least a .500 record to save his job, fired offensive coordinator Greg Olson after the loss to Tennessee. In addition, four players have publicly criticized fans. The Jaguars did win in London and rallied to beat Chicago with a 17-point fourth quarter -- and those are the only things that keep the Jaguars from a completely failing grade.

Midseason MVP: There were concerns about linebacker Telvin Smith before the season began, specifically about him freelancing and too often getting out of position. However, he has played the best football of his career, and he is the Jaguars’ best player right now. He has 65 tackles and a team-high 10 for loss -- nobody else has more than three -- in addition to four pass breakups. It has been a bit of an up-and-down season for the defense, but this is a much better unit than it was last season; the Jaguars rank 11th in total defense and fifth in pass defense. Smith is a big reason why.

Best moment: There aren’t many, but the one that stands out is receiver Arrelious Benn's 51-yard catch and run against Chicago for what turned out to be the winning touchdown. That was Benn’s only catch of the day and his first touchdown catch since Dec. 24, 2011. He has battled through a long list of injuries, including two torn ACLs, and fought off the urge to retire. That this scoring catch, which capped the Jaguars’ rally from a 13-0 deficit, came at Soldier Field also was special, because Benn played collegiately at Illinois.

Worst moment: The Jaguars’ worst moment lasted 30 minutes. The first half of the team’s 36-22 loss to Tennessee was the lowest point of Bradley’s tenure. The Jaguars gave up 354 yards, 20 first downs and trailed 27-0, all while managing just 60 yards of offense. Bortles was awful, and the defense couldn’t stop DeMarco Murray or Derrick Henry. It was an embarrassing performance, especially since owner Shad Khan had spoken to the team three days before and asked why the Jaguars weren’t winning more and what he could do to help.

Player to watch: We documented the sad state of Bortles' mechanics last week, and it’s the No. 1 thing to watch in the second half of the season. The Jaguars drafted Bortles third overall in 2014 to be their franchise quarterback, and he appeared on his way after last season, but now there are serious questions. Bortles worked out with his personal throwing coach last week in an effort to clean up his mechanics, but no one should expect everything to be fine immediately. He’s going to have to work through this, and the hope is the lower-body improvements he made will eventually make him more accurate.

Second-half outlook: The Jaguars have a tough remaining schedule -- all but one team (Indianapolis, at 3-5) has either a .500 or winning record -- that includes back-to-back road trips to Detroit and Buffalo, so it won’t be easy for the team to turn things around and at least threaten .500. It depends on whether Bortles and the offense play better. Bortles has to become more accurate and cut down on turnovers, which he believes the mechanical tune-up will help achieve. The Jaguars also have to run the ball better. New offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said he’ll be more committed to the run than Olson. But did the Jaguars abandon the run because it wasn’t working or was the run game not working because the Jaguars gave up on it too early in games? The defense must get better rushing the passer (13 sacks, but six came in one game) and forcing turnovers (an NFL-low five). Bradley’s job depends on this team somehow rallying in the second half and not being as embarrassingly bad as they were on national TV against the Titans.