The last time the Jacksonville Jaguars played a primetime game on any day other than a Thursday was in December 2011. Blaine Gabbert was a rookie at the time and Jack Del Rio was fired from his job as the Jaguars head coach less than a week before that Week 13 Monday Night Football contest.
More than a decade later, it seems like the Jaguars finally have the recipe for a return to center stage.
The Jaguars are less than two weeks away from a Week 18 duel with the Tennessee Titans that will decide the AFC South champion. That winner-take-all battle between rivals looks like it’d be exactly what the NFL wants for its regular season finale. The only problem is that another matchup looks like it could be more appealing.
For more than 50 years, the NFL has capped its regular season with one last primetime game. Since 2006, the league’s flexible scheduling rules have allowed it to flex the most consequential game of the week into that spot.
Last year, it was the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers with matching 9-7 records that met with the AFC West title on the line. Four years ago, the Titans and Indianapolis Colts played for a spot in the postseason.
Jacksonville’s Week 18 matchup against the Titans for all the marbles checks all the boxes. But another game on the schedule could steal its thunder.
The culprit looks like it’ll be the Cincinnati Bengals’ season-ender against the Baltimore Ravens. Right now, the 11-4 Bengals are a game ahead of the 10-5 Ravens with two weeks left. Baltimore already has one win over Cincinnati this season and could secure a season sweep and the division title in Week 18.
The only way the Bengals and Ravens won’t play for the AFC North title in two weeks is if Baltimore loses to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football this week and Cincinnati beats the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.
Flex scheduling rules say a Week 18 game can be changed on only six days notice, so the NFL won’t have an issue waiting until Monday night to make its choice. And it’s hard to imagine the league choosing the Jaguars against the slumping Titans over the draw of Joe Burrow vs. (maybe) Lamar Jackson.
But those rules mean the NFL has to decide by Sunday night what to do with its Week 18 Saturday doubleheader. The Jaguars-Titans game could get moved to Saturday night, but then the NFL is putting all its eggs in the AFC North basket, which could be an inconsequential game.
Jaguars fans will find out this weekend what time the team is playing in Week 18. One thing that is all but guaranteed is that kickoff at TIAA Bank Field won’t be 1 p.m. ET.