JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Jaguars have a championship celebration planned for their regular-season finale against Tennessee. And they\u2019re finally willing to talk about it.<\/p>\n
Hats. T-shirts. Maybe even a cigar or two.<\/p>\n
The streaking Jaguars (12-4) can wrap up the AFC South with a victory against the Titans (3-13) at home Sunday. Jacksonville has won seven consecutive games and is a 13\u00bd-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.<\/p>\n
The Jaguars are 11-0 in franchise history when favored by 12 or more points and haven\u2019t had as much on the line \u2014 a division title and a home playoff game \u2014 in any of those previous matchups.<\/p>\n
After maintaining a \u201cgo 1-0 this week\u201d mantra all season, first-year coach Liam Coen and the Jaguars are embracing the stakes of this matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message to the players was going 1-0 this week and, yeah, there\u2019s a hat and a T-shirt that comes along with that,\u201d Coen said.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville secured a playoff berth two weeks ago and has faced division-clinching scenarios since. But all of those required Houston to lose, and the Texans are the only NFL team hotter than the Jags right now.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tennessee Titans interim head coach Mike McCoy reacts on the sideline in the second half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. Credit: AP\/George Walker IV<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can talk about winning the division because it\u2019s what we\u2019ve got an opportunity to do, and it\u2019s one game,\u201d quarterback Trevor Lawrence said. \u201cWe\u2019re here. Leading up to this point, we weren\u2019t here yet. \u2026 We had to win all those games to get to this point to have the opportunity to continue to control the division and keep it in our hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s what we did, and none bigger than this one. We\u2019re here to win the division this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Titans, meanwhile, are looking to play spoiler.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to try to embarrass us at home to win a division,\u201d Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said. \u201cSo I hope guys know and kind of what our message (has) been, especially in the defensive meeting room, (is) to come out there ready to fight.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) scores past Indianapolis Colts safety Nick Cross (20) during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. Credit: AP\/AJ Mast<\/p>\n
\u201cOur job is to go out there and win a football game, and it means a lot to us. We haven\u2019t won a division game; they beat us already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennessee became the first NFL team to make a coaching change this season and will have a new regime in a few weeks. A roster overhaul is likely to follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t control who\u2019s not going to be in this locker room after this season,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cEveryone get paid to do a job and I think guys need to just focus on their film. \u2026 Your film is your resume.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacksonville\u2019s resume hasn\u2019t been this stout since 1999. The Jaguars are trying to win 13 games for the first time since that season. They already set the franchise\u2019s single-season scoring record (433 points) and need one touchdown for the most in any season.<\/p>\n
More important, they can win the AFC South for the third time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goals don\u2019t change for us,\u201d running back Travis Etienne said. \u201cJust go 1-0. If we do that, all the things that come with that are just going to happen naturally. That\u2019s the greatest thing about football: If you focus on the team objective, great things happen for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Divisional pride on the line for Tennessee<\/p>\n
The Titans are trying to avoid going winless in the division for the first time since the inception of the AFC South in 2002. Tennessee has been outscored by 96 points in five divisional losses, with only of those games being close.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care what the record is,\u201d guard Peter Skoronski said. \u201cYou go against a division opponent and they have something to play for, you better battle your (butt) off. I think that\u2019s what we plan on doing. And we\u2019d love to screw things up a little bit in the AFC if we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contract bonuses within reach<\/p>\n
Titans running back Tony Pollard needs 66 yards to reach 1,100 yards rushing for the season and earn a $250,000 bonus, according to NFL Network. Only Indianapolis\u2019 Jonathan Taylor has topped 66 yards rushing against Jacksonville and the NFL\u2019s top-ranked run defense this season.<\/p>\n
Jaguars defensive tackle Arik Armstead needs 1\u00bd sacks against the Titans to reach seven on the season and earn a $1 million bonus. Armstead, though, hasn\u2019t had a sack since Week 10.<\/p>\n
Simmons has been a bright spot for the Titans<\/p>\n
Simmons has 10 sacks and three forced fumbles, both career highs. One more sack would give him the most by a Titans defensive tackle since 1999, passing Jurrell Casey\u2019s mark of 10\u00bd in 2013.<\/p>\n
The Jaguars consider Simmons the most disruptive defensive tackle in the NFL. <\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Pro Football Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Jaguars have a championship celebration planned for their regular-season finale against Tennessee. And…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[7,253,125,6,526,394,2411,527,2309],"class_list":{"0":"post-649478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-houston-texans","10":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-tennessee","13":"tag-tennessee-titans","14":"tag-tennesseetitans","15":"tag-titans","16":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115828556280401117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}