NASHVILLE — Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen started hearing about the franchise’s rivalry with the Tennessee Titans not long after being hired in January.
Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle Tony Boselli, who came on board in February as executive vice president of football operations for the Jaguars — the team he played for from 1995-2001 during the first seven of his eight NFL seasons — shared some stories.
Coen also previously heard about the AFC South rivals’ battles while he was an assistant at the University of Kentucky, so Jacksonville’s first-year head coach knows Sunday’s game at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium is more than just a divisional matchup.
“Both teams have probably won games they shouldn’t and lost games they shouldn’t,” Coen said of an all-time series the Titans lead 35-26, including the lone postseason meeting. “Whatever it is, it’s one of those games that we understand that anything can happen. Any given Sunday anything can happen, but especially in division games where there’s maybe just that little extra want-to on both sides.”
Jacksonville debuted as an expansion franchise in 1995, and the Jaguars’ first regular-season game was against the Houston Oilers — the franchise that would move to Tennessee after the 1996 season and become the Titans in 1999.
That 1999 season was the same one in which Tennessee beat the Jaguars three times, with the Titans sweeping the home-and-home series — 20-19 in Jacksonville and 41-14 in Nashville — before winning again in Jacksonville in the AFC championship game, 33-14. It set up what remains the franchise’s lone NFL title shot, a 23-16 loss to the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, where Titans receiver Kevin Dyson was tackled a yard shy of the end zone as time expired in a heartbreaking finish for Tennessee supporters.
That same fan base is dealing with a different sort of frustration right now, with the Titans at the bottom of not only the division standings but the entire NFL with a 1-10 record after going 3-14 last season, which led to them having the No. 1 pick in this past April’s draft.
Tennessee has lost six straight games since a 22-21 road win against the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 5, when a mistake-filled finish by the home team played no small part in the Titans being able to rally late and end a 10-game losing streak that dated to 2024.
On top of their current overall slump, the Titans have also lost 10 straight home games; a loss Sunday would match the franchise’s longest such skid since moving from Texas to the Volunteer State. The Titans ended that dubious streak on Dec. 6, 2015, with an interim head coach (Mike Mularkey) and a rookie quarterback (No. 2 draft pick Marcus Mariota) beating the Jaguars.
These Titans have an interim head coach in Mike McCoy and another rookie quarterback in top pick Cam Ward. They’re also desperate.
“We need to get a win,” linebacker Cody Barton said.
These Jaguars (7-4) are second in the AFC South and a game back of the Indianapolis Colts (8-3). The Jaguars are 1-1 in division play, having split with the Houston Texans, which means they still have two games against the Colts — at home on Dec. 7 and in Indianapolis on Dec. 28 — as well as two against the Titans, who will visit Jacksonville in the final week of the regular season in early January.
That gives the Jaguars a chance at their first AFC South title since 2022, which was also the season in which they most recently made the playoffs.
First, Jacksonville has to survive its fourth road trip in five games, this time while visiting a rival. The Jaguars have beaten Tennessee in five of their past six meetings, and they’re well aware their hosts are eager for a taste of success.
“This is a big one obviously in Tennessee, big division rival opponent,” Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. “And a game we need to play well and need to go get a win.”
The Titans, who have lost all five games with McCoy as interim coach, have dropped their past three by a combined 16 points, including a 30-24 home loss last weekend to the Seattle Seahawks.
“We’ve got to consistently do our jobs better for 60 minutes,” McCoy said, “and see what happens then when you play your best football for 60 minutes.”
Some of the growing pains the youthful Titans have gone through are at least beginning to show signs of leading to progress.
Ward was one of a season-high five rookies who started for the Titans last weekend, which was the most for the franchise since at least 2005. Tennessee played a season-high 10 rookies as well, and they’ve been producing.
Ward threw for 256 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for his first score as a pro. Ward’s 2,210 passing yards lead all NFL rookies this season.
“You definitely see growth and improvement there,” Jacksonville’s Coen said, “as I think we’ve all maybe thought was going to come and happen for him. So yeah, you can tell he just continues to improve.”
In other bright spots for Tennessee rookies against Seattle, Chimere Dike returned a punt 90 yards for his second such touchdown this season, tight end Gunnar Helm led the Titans with six catches for 51 yards, and safety Kevin Winston Jr. led them in tackles with 10.
Jacksonville’s past three road games have been something to witness: two overtime victories — 30-29 against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 2, then 27-24 against the Cardinals last Sunday — and the worst collapse in franchise history, with the Texans overcoming a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 36-29 on a 32-yard fumble recovery as time expired. It’s the kind of trend the Jaguars would like to end in their fourth road game in November.
“Whatever they put in front of us as your schedule, you just go play,” Lawrence said. “You get used to it. It’s been good for us to have to handle that.”
Lawrence will have another new set of starting receivers against the Titans.
Brian Thomas Jr. is expected to return after missing the past two games with an ankle injury and will play alongside newly acquired Jakobi Meyers for the first time this season. Jacksonville picked up Meyers from the Raiders at the trade deadline.
“He’s been awesome. It’s come along quicker than I would have thought,” Lawrence said. “Sometimes it takes time with different receivers to get that chemistry and the timing. It’s been pretty seamless with him.”
The Jaguars also got tight end Brenton Strange back last weekend after he missed six weeks with a hip injury. That will give Lawrence a group of Meyers, Strange, Thomas and Parker Washington as his main options Sunday.