The Jacksonville Jaguars clinched their first AFC South title since 2022 with a dominant 41-7 victory over the visiting Tennessee Titans Sunday afternoon.
After trailing 7-0, the Jaguars scored 31 straight points over the final 21:02 of the first half to effectively put the AFC South on ice. They finished the regular season with eight straight wins after losing to the Houston Texans on Nov. 9.
Jacksonville (13-4) clinched no worse than the No. 3 seed in the AFC for the playoffs and will host a playoff game next weekend. The Jaguars will move up to the No. 2 seed if either Denver or New England loses in the late afternoon. If both lose, then the Jaguars claim the No. 1 seed.
“Very proud of this group,” first-year Jaguars coach Liam Coen said. “The resiliency of this group, the mental toughness of this group. Started a little bit hot in ways and then had a tough stretch. You’re up 20 (at Houston) in the fourth quarter and end up losing the game. To turn this thing around and for these guys to stay the course, keep allowing us to keep coaching, they’re a fun, special group to be around.”
Trevor Lawrence completed 22 of 30 passes for 255 yards and three touchdowns, breaking the franchise’s single-season total touchdowns record (38) and moving into second place on Jaguars’ all-time passing yards leaderboard (17,822) in the victory.
“It’s been an awesome year,” Lawrence said. “To finish it this way, to be able to win the division, obviously it took a lot of focus and grit throughout the season. Taking it one week at a time. We had some ups and some downs. You look at how we’re playing now, I feel like we’re playing our best ball at the most important time going into the playoffs.”
Parker Washington caught five passes for 87 yards and Brenton Strange caught six passes for 52 yards, both recording touchdown catches.
Brandon Allen was 17-of-30 passing for 72 yards and an interception in relief of Tennessee quarterback Cam Ward. The No. 1 overall pick’s rookie season ended prematurely when he sustained a first-quarter shoulder injury.
Elic Ayomanor led the Titans (3-14) with three catches for 50 yards. Tony Pollard had 48 rushing yards on 14 carries.
The Titans opened the scoring with Ward’s 7-yard touchdown run on their opening series. His injury occurred on the play and he did not return.
Jacksonville immediately responded with a touchdown drive of its own, finishing with Lawrence’s 23-yard pass to Washington to tie the game with 6:02 left in the first quarter.
The Jaguars took the lead on their subsequent drive with a 7-yard touchdown from Lawrence to Strange and grabbed full control on a 58-yard interception return for a touchdown by Antonio Johnson — which also set the Jaguars’ single-season interception record with 22 picks.
Lawrence followed with his third touchdown of the first half, a 5-yard pass to Quintin Morris with 1:56 left in the first half.
After a Tennessee turnover on downs with three seconds left in the half, Cam Little bombed in a 67-yard field goal, one yard shy of the record-setting 68-yarder he hit Nov. 2 vs. Las Vegas.
Little added a 52-yard field goal in the third quarter, his 20th consecutive converted field goal attempt.
Bhayshul Tuten closed out the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run with 7:28 left.
–Field Level Media
