The Jacksonville Jaguars benched quarterback Blake Bortles in the second half of Sunday's 20-7 loss to the Houston Texans.

The Houston Chronicle's John McClain noted fans in Jacksonville cheered when Cody Kessler, Bortles' replacement, took the field.

Prior to exiting, Bortles was 6-of-12 for 61 yards and lost two fumbles.

"We wanted to try to make him think a little bit," Texans safety Tyrann Mathieu told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk. "We wanted to try to get him to go read to read."

To be fair to Bortles, the fifth-year passer isn't playing that badly compared to his body of work entering 2018. Through his first six games, he was on pace to set career highs in completion percentage (61.2) and yards (279.0 per game).

The difference this season is the Jaguars don't have the dominant defense to cover up for Bortles' weaknesses.

Jacksonville ranked second in total defense and scoring defense and sat first in defensive efficiency in 2017, per Football Outsiders. In 2018, the team is still second in yards allowed but ninth in points allowed and fifth in defensive efficiency.

Starting running back Leonard Fournette has been limited to two games as well by a hamstring injury.

Still, some thought Bortles' benching magnified the Jaguars' lack of a succession plan since his struggles were largely predictable:

Kessler was a third-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2016. He threw for 1,380 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions in nine appearances as a rookie. Kessler then spent 2017 behind DeShone Kizer and Kevin Hogan before Jacksonville acquired him in March for a conditional 2019 seventh-round pick.

Kessler completed 21 of 30 passes for 156 yards with a touchdown and an interception Sunday against the Texans.

The fact that the Browns dealt Kessler after just two years didn't speak well to his long-term sustainability in the NFL.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Sunday the Jaguars "have no plans" to trade for another quarterback before the Oct. 30 trade deadline.

With the team's fall to 3-4 on Sunday, Jacksonville may need to reconsider its stance about potentially replacing Bortles for the second half of the season.