Somehow, some way, the Jacksonville Jaguars have an opportunity to clinch the AFC South on New Year’s Eve.
Despite losing their first four games of December, including a blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Christmas Eve, the Jaguars are still atop the AFC South standings. They’re currently tied with the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans, both of which lost in two of the last three weeks. Jacksonville owns the tiebreakers, though.
That makes the formula for the Jaguars to clinch a postseason berth in Week 17 pretty simple:
- Jaguars beat the Panthers
- Raiders beat the Colts
- Titans beat the Texans
If those three results come to fruition, the Jaguars would improve to 9-7 and both the Colts and Texans would drop to 8-8. Even if Jacksonville lost its regular season finale against Tennessee, a season sweep over Indianapolis and a superior divisional record than Houston would be enough.
If the Texans or Colts win, Jacksonville can’t do enough to guarantee itself a wild card berth in Week 17, though. Even if the Jaguars win and other teams in the mix (like the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals) all lose in Week 17, it’d only take a scenario where the Jaguars and Bengals are tied for the last spot after Week 18 for Jacksonville to be left out.
The clearest path to the postseason for the Jaguars, despite their recent tailspin, remains the AFC South title.
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