NFL Winners and Losers, early Sunday games: Liam Coen's Jaguars win AFC South and could make a playoff run

Many teams have to make a decision about their head coach as the season closes. And all of them have to at least consider the Jacksonville Jaguars’ success story.

One coaching hire can flip a franchise’s fortunes, and the Jaguars seem to have found a good one. Liam Coen’s first regular season as an NFL head coach ended with a division championship. The Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 41-7 on Sunday to improve to 13-4 and win the AFC South. Coen should be considered on a short list of candidates for NFL Coach of the Year after the job he did this season.

Jacksonville isn’t a marquee franchise, so the mess Coen stepped into might be understated. The Jaguars had double-digits in wins just once since 2007 and had just two playoff berths since then. Shad Khan has been one of the NFL’s worst team owners. He hired Urban Meyer, after all. But the Jaguars, who had a messy coaching search with Coen secretly meeting with Jacksonville after he had agreed to return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their offensive coordinator, found the right formula.

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It wasn’t pretty early. It seemed Coen was pushing Trevor Lawrence hard, which led to some awkward moments. Eventually it paid off, with Lawrence having one of the best sustained stretches of his career. He played well again Sunday, throwing three touchdowns in the first half to get Jacksonville going. He has turned it around without Travis Hunter, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft who suffered a season-ending knee injury. Coen’s play-calling has helped transform the Jaguars’ offense. Lawrence accounted for 38 touchdowns this season and looked like a different quarterback in the second half of the season.

Sunday’s game didn’t start well for the Jaguars. They lost 18 yards on their first possession and punted. Cam Ward then drove the Titans downfield and he scored on a 7-yard run. Ward was hit at the end of that run and hurt his shoulder, and without much to play for the Titans weren’t going to leave the first overall pick of the 2025 draft out there to risk further injury.

After that the Jaguars took over. Lawrence threw a couple touchdowns. Jacksonville’s defense, which has been great at creating turnovers, had a pick 6 of Titans replacement QB Brandon Allen. That made the score 21-7 and it was just a matter of time before the Jaguars had their division-clinching win.

A division title isn’t the Jaguars’ ceiling this season either. They won 34-20 at the Denver Broncos, who entered Week 18 as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, in Week 16. Jacksonville finished the season with eight straight wins and should feel it can beat anyone in a wide-open AFC.

Nobody thought of the Jaguars as Super Bowl contenders before the season. One home run coaching hire changed everything. Other teams missing the playoffs this season will take note.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from the early games of the Week 18 schedule:

WINNERS

Carolina Panthers: The Panthers didn’t really deserve the NFC South championship after losing in Week 18 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Atlanta Falcons made sure they could back into it.

The Falcons got a blocked punt early and a big interception in the fourth quarter to fuel a 19-17 win over the New Orleans Saints that gave the Panthers the NFC South title. The Saints scored late but couldn’t secure an onside kick, leading to a celebration in Carolina.

It was a weird game, with each team playing on behalf of a division rival. If the Falcons won, the Panthers were division champs. If the Saints won (or there was a tie), Tampa Bay took the NFC South. But for a division that produced the fifth losing team to make the NFL playoffs, it was fitting that there was a goofy ending to the race.

The Falcons played well late in the season to rally for an 8-9 record. But the question will be why it took them so long to play their best, and why it happened after they were out of the playoff race. They could compete for a division title next season, after they gifted the Panthers this season’s crown.

Houston Texans: The Texans didn’t seem to care about getting the No. 5 seed in the AFC, which seemed strange, but they got it anyway.

The Texans got a 38-30 win over the Indianapolis Colts on a field goal in the final seconds and then a defensive touchdown on a pitch play with time expired in a game that Houston played in a surprisingly passive manner.

The Texans needed a Jaguars loss to win the AFC South, and even though that was unlikely, getting a win to seal the No. 5 seed in the AFC and a wild-card matchup against the AFC North champion seemed worth chasing. The Texans did not agree, and didn’t go all out to win. Nico Collins was inactive due to rest. Quarterback C.J. Stroud was removed for Davis Mills in the second half. The Texans’ defense, the No. 1 unit in the NFL, was strangely flat against the Colts and their rookie quarterback Riley Leonard.

But Mills saved it. He directed a late drive after the Colts took a lead, and Ka’imi Fairbairn hit a field goal in the final seconds to secure a win, the No. 5 seed and a trip to either Pittsburgh or Baltimore next weekend. Even though Houston seemed unconcerned about its matchup, getting the weakest of the four AFC division winners seems worthwhile.

Myles Garrett: It took until the final minutes of the season, but Myles Garrett finally got the sack he needed to set the NFL’s single-season record.

Garrett got around left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and he got to Joe Burrow for the sack as Burrow stepped up in the pocket. That was Garrett’s 23rd of the season, pushing him ahead of Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt for the record.

Garrett is a deserving holder of one of the NFL’s most coveted records, especially for the monster season he has had.

The Browns also won the game, which has been rare for the team despite Garrett’s heroics. Cleveland got two touchdowns from its defense, and while the Shedeur Sanders-led offense didn’t score any touchdowns, the Browns got a drive late in the game to set up a game-winning field goal as time expired. That came after a touchdown by Ja’Marr Chase to give the Bengals a late lead. Cleveland beat the Bengals 20-18 to head into the offseason with a win, and to allow Garrett to properly celebrate his new record.

LOSERS

Matt Eberflus: The Dallas Cowboys’ season is thankfully over. For Eberflus, Dallas’ defensive coordinator, it might be the end of his time with the Cowboys altogether.

Eberflus was not given a great situation, with Micah Parsons being traded right before the season. But Eberflus didn’t do much to elevate his unit. The final game of the season was more of the same in a 34-17 loss to a New York Giants team that was alive for the first pick of the draft (which goes to the Las Vegas Raiders with the Giants’ win). Jaxson Dart had a strong finish to his rookie season, with 231 yards passing and two touchdowns, with 32 yards rushing. New York had 380 yards of offense despite having multiple players out with injury.

If Eberflus is fired, Cowboys fans won’t remember his one season running the defense fondly. The only good news for the Cowboys, a mediocre team that finishes the season 7-9-1, is that a new coordinator probably won’t be much worse.

Clayton Tune: Week 18 can be a time for backup players to audition for other teams and put something good on tape for the offseason. Tune had that chance, in a very difficult situation Sunday, and it didn’t turn out well.

Tune, starting at quarterback for a Green Bay Packers team that rested starters, got swarmed by the Minnesota Vikings. The Packers had 12 yards of offense at halftime. They finished with -7 net passing yards. Tune was 6-of-11 passing for 34 yards, taking four sacks for a loss of 41 yards, and the Vikings won 16-3.

Green Bay didn’t care much about the outcome and it showed. The Packers were locked into the No. 7 seed and wanted to rest starting quarterback Jordan Love and backup Malik Willis. The Vikings played well late in the season and finished 9-8 with the win. The only bad news was after J.J. McCarthy had a solid first half with 174 yards, the oft-injured quarterback left Sunday’s game with a hand injury, leaving Max Brosmer to fill in.

The Packers will move on quickly from the Vikings loss and focus on the playoffs. Tune will hope that somehow his number gets called again in the NFL, and with better results.

NFL Winners and Losers, early Sunday games: Liam Coen’s Jaguars win AFC South and could make a playoff run

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