The collapse is complete and the obituary written.
The Jaguars, who were all but a lock to reach the playoffs last month, lost 28-20 to the Titans in a must-win finale on Sunday to crystallize a fall from grace unlike any other Jacksonville team before it. All the Jaguars needed was one additional win over its final six games and it could have avoided what happened in Nashville.
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Unthinkable when December began — Jacksonville was playing for the top seed in the AFC against the Bengals on Dec. 4 — the Jaguars (9-8) capped a second-half freefall and missed the playoffs completely. The AFC South title and No. 4 seed heads to Houston and electric rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
The onslaught of questions about the most inexplicable implosion in franchise history, those head to Jacksonville and owner Shad Khan.
Jacksonville lost five of its last six games and enters the offseason far sooner than expected. For a team that started the season with Super Bowl expectations, it’s no embellishment to say the disappointment is one of, if not, the greatest in franchise history. There have been no shortages of bad seasons and forgettable finishes since 1995, but this one was different. The Jaguars, who were sitting at 8-3 entering December, collapsed in spectacular (and familiar) fashion.
“It’s disappointing. It’s disappointing the way we finished our season,” said coach Doug Pederson. “Obviously, it’s definitely not good enough. Things start with me, and I got to make sure that I’m holding myself accountable and doing all I can to help our football team win, on and off the football field. But it’s just not good enough.”
Trevor Lawrence returned from a shoulder injury to throw a touchdown, but he was picked off twice and denied on a fourth-and-goal leap in from the 1 with 7 minutes and 14 seconds to play, a call that the quarterback audibled to. The Titans bled the clock with a steady blend of Derrick Henry and Tyjae Spears and put things back in Lawrence’s hands for the final drive.
Jacksonville got it back with 2:18 to go, but it stalled out on downs as Lawrence sailed a pass high to Evan Engram to cap the stunning finish. Tennessee (6-11) had little to play for but pride, but will take comfort in ending its biggest rival’s season.
“It hurts,” Lawrence said. “It hurts to not be able to finish and you look at where we were at one point in the season and just finished really, really poorly. We kind of gave it away.”
Second-half rally comes up short
Down 28-13 after a quick Tennessee touchdown to open the second half, Jacksonville tried to make a game of it. Lawrence tossed a 14-yard touchdown to Engram on the opening play of the fourth quarter.
After getting carved up by Tennessee for three quarters, the Jaguars finally got a defensive break on an Andre Cisco interception and return to the Titans 28. The drive went all the way to the Tennessee 1 before it stalled out. The Jaguars tried to roll Lawrence out to pass on third down and he tossed it away. His attempt to stretch the ball out across the goal line on fourth down came up well short and the Titans dodged the potential game-tying sequence. Pederson said that Lawrence changed the playcall on fourth down, something that he has the authority to do.
“Trevor’s trying to make play,” Pederson said. “Obviously, he had success in the past on it, just came up inches short. But you can’t fault him for trying to make a play.”
Jacksonville also stalled out midway through the third quarter at the Tennessee 29 as Lawrence’s drag pass to Zay Jones was well short of the first.
“It hasn’t really set in yet that we’re done, we aren’t going to be playing anymore this year,” Lawrence said. “It’s going to be a long offseason. It’s tough to put into words right now.”
Off from the start
Facing backup quarterback Ryan Tannehill, Jacksonville’s defense needed to focus more on the running combo of Henry and Spears. Instead, missed tackles and getting blown off the ball at the line of scrimmage were far more common. Tannehill tossed a quick swing pass to Spears on the opening drive of the game, a play that should have resulted in a stop in the backfield. Instead, Spears broke three tackles and turned that third-down play into a 28-yard touchdown.
Henry was his typical self against his hometown NFL team, shaking off tackles and turning in one big run after another. He ripped off an 18-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to put the Titans up 14-10. Henry finished with 153 yards on 19 carries in what could be his final game with Tennessee.
The Titans wouldn’t trail again.
“Me personally, I’m frustrated, I’m disappointed, I’m mad, I’m angry. My hearts hurts, obviously for the players and coaches involved,” Pederson said. “They’ve worked their tails off. Today’s game was sort of our season in a nutshell really. The mistakes, the penalties, the turnovers, the missed tackles. Those were all the things that hurt us down the stretch.”
Big break before half
Lawrence was driving the Jaguars to almost-certain points before the break. But he sailed his throw to Zay Jones high and right into the hands of Sean Murphy-Bunting. Jacksonville held the Titans to a punt but got it right back when Ty Zentner muffed the snap and was dropped by Brenton Strange. Jacksonville turned that into a 30-yard field goal by Brandon McManus to get within 21-13.
That boost was short-lived. Henry ripped off a 69-yard on the second carry of the third quarter that went down to the Jaguars 4. Tannehill hit Deandre Hopkins on a touchdown two plays later to stretch that lead back out.
Milestones for Jaguars
Travon Walker’s second season was far better than his first. The No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, sacked Tannehill before halftime to notch his 10th sack of the season. That’s a massive jump from his first year (3.5 sacks) and should mean an even stronger third season for Walker.
Walker had an excellent pressure on a third-and-17 with just under three minutes to play that led to a Josh Allen sack, his 17th of the season.
“To be honest, speaking on last year, it was like we had a spark. We had a fire. We had a determination. We had a want,” Allen said. “This year, we were looking for that spark. And we never got that lit. We have to figure out if we do have one, and if we don’t one, we need to find a way to win games. These last stretch of six games were disappointing.”
Engram’s solid season wrapped up with one of the best statistical years ever for a tight end. Engram finished with 79 yards on 10 catches. On the season, he had 114 receptions, a mark that ranks second by a tight end in NFL history. Only Philadelphia’s Zach Ertz (116 in 2018) has had more catches in a season. Engram also surpassed Jimmy Smith’s 112-catch season in 2001 for the second-most by a player in franchise history, but finished two receptions short of Smith’s best year (116 catches in 1999).
Travis Etienne rushed for 57 yards and surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second season, but said the collapse overshadowed everything else for players.
“But I feel like when we was 8-3, I never thought we had it, because we didn’t have it. That was just the reality of the situation, I can’t speak for everybody else. But I felt as if we had to have a mindset switch or something or just continue to live in reality, or things like this will continue to happen to us,” he said. “This is the worst feeling as a competitor, as an athlete. Working so hard for something and not being able to get it, attain it.”