While the Jacksonville Jaguars lost yet another West Coast game on Sunday, falling to the Los Angeles Rams in blowout fashion 37-7, the previously winless Detroit Lions earned their first victory of the season on a touchdown as time expired against the Minnesota Vikings.
Though the Lions sit at just 1-10-1 on the season, that win was enough to remove themselves from the bottom spot in the USA TODAY Sports NFL power rankings from Nate Davis. That opened the door for the struggling Jaguars to slide into the No. 32 spot, staying one spot behind a Houston team that has the same 2-10 record but earned a victory in the lone head-to-head contest in Week 1.
The bad news? They were swept by their NFC opponents for the third straight season. The good news? Jacksonville is a far more respectable 2-5 against the AFC this year.
Things just aren’t going well in Jacksonville, and it hasn’t been able to capitalize off the momentum of beating a potential playoff team in the Buffalo Bills. To make matters worse, the Bills have struggled since that game, sitting at 7-5 on the year and making that win look slightly less impressive than it did at the time.
If the season ended today, the Jaguars would pick second overall following the Lions. But Detroit has had a lot of close games this season, and if it can string together a couple more wins, the Jags could become the first team to pick first overall in back-to-back drafts since the Cleveland Browns in 2017-18.
It’s been a rough Year 1 for Urban Meyer and Co. in Jacksonville, and there isn’t much sign of things improving in the final five games.