JACKSONVILLE — Blake Bortles has started just three games for the Jaguars, but he’s already solidifying his position as the team’s quarterback of the future.

Bortles had his best passing day yet against the Tennessee Titans as he completed 32 of 46 passes for 336 yards and a touchdown. He had one interception, but it came on a play when receiver Allen Hurns fell down.

In the fourth quarter, he drove them 83 yards in nine plays for the touchdown that cut the deficit to 16-14.

After the Jaguars recovered an onside kick, he completed passes of 13 and 8 yards to put them at the Tennessee 37 with 12 seconds left.

Since that is considered in Josh Scobee’s range, they decided not to run another play and sent him out for a chance at the game winner, but it was blocked and the Jaguars lost 16-14. They are the fourth team to start 0-6 two years in a row. The other three were expansion Tampa Bay in 1976-77, Houston Oilers 1983-84 and Cincinnati 1993-94.

Still, Bortles gives them hope for a better future.

The problem is the Jaguars still have to give him a lot more help. Their running game is the worst in the league and their defense is ranked 30th. Their overall offense is still ranked last in the league but part of that is the poor numbers put up by Chad Henne, who quarterbacked the first 10 quarters.

But the Jaguars need a better running game, better receivers and better blocking by the offensive line. Bortles was sacked six times and only one of them came when he held the ball too long.

Toby Gerhart, who was signed as a free agent to spearhead the running game, has been ineffective and bothered by an ankle injury that sidelined him Sunday.

And the Jaguars don’t have much behind Gerhart. Bortles was actually the leading rusher against Tennessee with 38 yards on five scrambles. Rookie Storm Johnson got the start and gained just 21 yards on 10 carries. Denard Robinson had 22 yards on five carries.

And the receivers made too many mistakes that caused both turnovers. Hurns’ slip caused the interception and Cecil Shorts fumbled after catching a pass.

Even the coaching needs to be better. And that comes from coach Gus Bradley.

“I could have led them better Sunday. I don’t think I did a really good job with the team after the game. I think I could have done better with game management, with the challenge flags. We all challenge ourselves in areas we can get better, and I challenged the team and I pointed out the things that I can get better at, too,” he said.

Bradley lost both of his challenges but said he shouldn’t have challenged a call that Charlie Whitehurst had fumbled when the replays showed he got the throw off.

When even the coach is questioning himself, it shows the team has big problems.

And they play Cleveland and Miami at home, go to Cincinnati and then to London to play Dallas before their bye.

At this point, it looks as if they could be 0-10 at the bye unless they pull off an upset.

Last year, they were 0-8 at the bye and then went to Tennessee and posted a 29-27 victory. They couldn’t duplicate that feat Sunday.

REPORT CARD VS. TITANS:

PASSING OFFENSE: B — Blake Bortles passed for 336 yards but had an interception when Allen Hurns fell down and was the victim of another turnover when Cecil Shorts caught a pass and fumbled. Bortles, though, continues to be very impressive for a rookie and the Jaguars think he’ll be their quarterback of the future.

RUSHING OFFENSE: F — They simply can’t run the ball. The leading rusher was Blake Bortles with 38 yards on five scrambles. Rookie Storm Johnson got the start and managed 21 yards on 10 carries. Denard Robinson had 22 on five carries. The lack of a running game takes away their ability to use play action and they have to use screens and short passes to make up for the lack of a running game.

PASS DEFENSE: C — Journeyman Charlie Whitehurst passed for 233 yards while completing 17 of 28 and could have done more if the Titans hadn’t played it conservative with a two-score lead in the second half and threw just 12 passes.

RUSH DEFENSE: B plus — They held Bishop Stankey to 61 yards on 18 carries, an average of only 3.4 yards a carry. They now rank 19th in rush defense while their pass defense is 30th.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F — Josh Scobee had a 55-yard attempt for a game winner blocked with 12 seconds left. It is within his range but he got distracted when the referees were late getting the kicking K ball on the field as the clock ran down. They reset the clock to give him the normal time but he was still complaining about the referees after the game and it obviously affected him. They also gave up a 50-yard kickoff return to Leon

Washington, while Jordan Todman got just 25 yards on their kickoff return. And Ace Sanders got just 10 yards on two punt returns.

COACHING: D — Coach Gus Bradley publicly criticized himself for his coaching in the game. Bradley has only been a head coach for 22 games and he is obviously still learning things like game and clock management and doing challenges. He has an upbeat attitude and the players play hard for him despite their 0-6 start, but he needs to mature as a coach.