JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars have busted many losing streaks in 2022 — and some were historical.
The list includes a 20-game losing streak to NFC teams (the longest intraconference losing streak in NFL history), an 18-game road losing streak, a 14-game AFC South road losing streak and an eight-game road losing streak at the Tennessee Titans.
Snapping these streaks is a sign of progress for a franchise that has nearly twice as many seasons with double-digit losses (15) than winning seasons (eight).
The next streak they are looking to break? The nine consecutive losses to the Houston Texans. They’ll get a chance at breaking that streak on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
“In order to get to where we want to go, we’ve got to win football games, especially in the division,” left guard Tyler Shatley — one of only three players who were a part of the franchise’s only winning season over the past 14 years (2017) — said. “You win your division, you’re on the right path. That’s just where we’ve got to start: Winning football games in the division.”
If they do defeat the Texans and break the losing streak, there’s still a chance the Jaguars could earn a wild-card berth — even if they don’t win the AFC South division by beating the Titans at home in Week 18. They have not swept a season series against the Titans since 2005.
“I had no clue about half of [the streaks],” receiver Christian Kirk said. “I feel like somebody’s telling me about a new streak that we have broken [every week], but it’s great because you talk about flipping the script and kind of turning the page and making this thing the way we want to make it. This just says a lot about this football team, the staff and everybody around that this is our opportunity to make it the way we want to make it.”
The Jaguars (7-8) are in position to make the postseason after going 0-5 in October largely because they’ve played better football. That is especially true of quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is second in the NFL in passer rating, third in completion percentage and fifth in Total QBR since November began. But Lawrence says it’s also due to the culture inside the building and locker room, which slowly and steadily improved once Pederson was hired in February.
“Coach talks about building your part of the wall, and I think that’s what everyone has been able to do this year,” Lawrence said. “Even when thing weren’t going great, everyone just kept focusing on their job. No one pointed a finger.
“It’s part of the culture change, and just the mindset of this team has been awesome. Just to see that confidence really just build and build every week and to be a part of it and be in the middle of it, it’s been really cool. You can feel it.”
Pederson said in his introductory news conference — and multiple times since — that turning the Jaguars from a franchise that has lost 10 or more games in 10 of the last 11 seasons into a perennial playoff team wasn’t going to be an overnight fix.
He believes the Jaguars are close to playing their best football, and late December and into January is the perfect time for that.
“I think we’re still a work in progress,” Pederson said. “I don’t know if anything’s fixed. The success the team is having, I think we’ve moved on past last season and all that. I think the guys are in a good place mentally. But we still have unfinished business, and I think the guys sense that and the guys feel that and the guys believe that.
“That’s just where we are, and if that means we’ve fixed some things then, yeah, we’ve fixed some things.”
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