Jaguars fire OC, bench Blake Bortles after 7th straight loss

The Jacksonville Jaguars sacked offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and quarterback Blake Bortles one day after the team’s seventh consecutive loss.

Coach Doug Marrone fired Hackett and benched Bortles on Monday, making sweeping changes to one of the league’s worst offenses.

Marrone also promoted quarterbacks coach Scott Milanovich to offensive coordinator. Milanovich spent five seasons (2012-16) as head coach for the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts before landing in Jacksonville.

Marrone believes Milanovich and backup quarterback Cody Kessler will energize a lackluster offense Sunday when the Jaguars (3-8) host Indianapolis. Kessler lost all eight starts for Cleveland in 2016.

Bortles failed to reach 150 yards passing in four of the last six games. Marrone already yanked Bortles once this year, only to give him the job back a day later.

Hackett ended up being the first scapegoat in Jacksonville’s ultra-disappointing season. He failed to get Bortles and the offense to play anywhere close to the way they did early in the season or even in 2017. Injuries have been the biggest issue, but not enough to save Hackett’s job.

The Jaguars rank 22nd in the NFL in total offense, averaging 346.5 yards a game, but have been on a steady decline the last two months. They rank 29th in points, averaging a paltry 17.9 a game.

BENGALS’ DALTON OUT FOR SEASON >> Andy Dalton is out for the season with a thumb injury suffered in the Bengals’ latest loss.

Dalton hurt the thumb on his passing hand when he tried to recover a fumble in the second half of a 35-20 loss to the Browns on Sunday. He was placed on injured reserve after more tests on Monday.

Jeff Driskel will start for the Bengals the rest of the way, getting his first chance to lead the team in his third NFL season. The Bengals claimed quarterback Tom Savage off waivers from San Francisco as a backup.

The Bengals (5-6) have lost five of their past six games, falling to third in the AFC North.

Dalton broke the same thumb while making a tackle on an interception return in 2015.

MLB

BRAVES MAKE FREE AGENT SPLASH >> The Atlanta Braves added a pair of free agents following their first division title in five years, agreeing to one-year contracts with third baseman Josh Donaldson and catcher Brian McCann.

Donaldson agreed to a $23 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press on Monday.

McCann’s deal was announced by Atlanta, where he became a seventime All-Star from 200513. He got a $2 million, one-year contract to play near his home.

Donaldson was the AL MVP with Toronto in 2015 but has struggled since. He had a hip injury in 2016, was slowed by a strained right calf in 2017 and by shoulder inflammation and a calf strain this year. A three-time All-Star who turns 32 next month, Donaldson hit .246 with eight homers and 23 RBI in 52 games this year for Toronto and Cleveland, which acquired him on Aug. 31.

His 2019 salary matches his pay this year.

McCann, who turns 35 in February, is from Duluth, Georgia, and was a seven-time All-Star with the Braves from 2005-13. He left to sign an $85 million, five-year contract with the New York Yankees and was traded to Houston after the 2016 season following the emergence of Gary Sanchez.

McCann helped the Astros win their first World Series title in 2017. He hit .212 with seven homers and 23 RBI in 63 games this year, missing 53 games because of arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in July.

College basketball

GONZAGA PASSES

KANSAS FOR NO. 1 >> Gonzaga is the new No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25, leapfrogging Kansas after winning the Maui Invitational.

The Bulldogs were third in last week’s poll and moved ahead of No. 2 Kansas following Wednesday’s thrilling win over former No. 1 Duke in the Maui title game. Gonzaga received 32 first-place votes from a 65-person media panel in the poll released Monday, edging Kansas by one.

No. 3 Duke received one first-place vote despite the loss to the Zags and No. 4 Virginia the other one after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis title in the Bahamas.