JACKSONVILLE – The opportunity is real, immediate and significant.
The task now is to take advantage.
The Jaguars (12-4), winners of seven consecutive games, can clinch their first AFC South title since 2022 with a victory or tie against the Tennessee Titans (3-13) in the 2025 regular-season finale at EverBank Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m. They also can clinch the title if the second-place Houston Texans (11-5) tie or lose against the Indianapolis Colts (8-8) in Houston at 1 p.m.
This marks the third time in four seasons the Jaguars have entered Week 18 with a chance to clinch the South. It’s the third time in four seasons the opponent in that game has been the Titans.
The Titans are a struggling team this season, but they have played better in recent weeks. They feature perhaps the NFL’s best interior defensive lineman – tackle Jeffery Simmons — and improving, talented rookie quarterback Cam Ward.
The Jaguars beat the Titans, 25-3, in Nashville, in Week 13, but beating a division rival twice in a short period is never easy – as evidenced by the Jaguars’ 23-17 road victory over the Colts last Sunday three weeks after beating the Colts in one-sided fashion, 36-19, in Jacksonville.
The Titans-Jaguars rivalry is real. The Jaguars knocked the Titans from the postseason in the 2022 regular-season finale by clinching the AFC South with a 20-16 victory over the Titans in Jacksonville. The Titans were out of the playoffs by Week 18 the following season, but eliminated the Jaguars from that season’s postseason with a 28-20 victory over the Jaguars in Nashville.