{"id":492368,"date":"2026-01-04T18:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/492368\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T18:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:55:19","slug":"jaguars-playoff-picture-updated-nfl-scenarios-for-jacksonville-to-clinch-afc-no-1-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/492368\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaguars playoff picture: Updated NFL scenarios for Jacksonville to clinch AFC No. 1 seed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaguars playoff picture: Updated NFL scenarios for Jacksonville to clinch AFC No. 1 seed<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>‘ season was considered a success in the eyes of fans and pundits long ago, but the team itself doesn’t seem to be satisfied yet.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Jaguars entered Week 18 on a seven-game win streak, with their only loss since their bye being a game they led by 19 against the Houston Texans<\/a>. Despite a lack of attention compared to other teams with 12 or more wins, Jacksonville is hoping to steal the spotlight in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

First, the Jaguars have business to take care of in Week 18, thanks to the way the Texans have kept the pressure on late in the season.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at the Jaguars’ playoff outlook and where Jacksonville could land in the bracket.<\/p>\n

LIVE:<\/strong>Updated NFL playoff picture for Week 18<\/a><\/p>\n

NFL playoff bracket 2026\"\"Jaguars playoff picture<\/p>\n

The Jaguars enter Week 18 as the No. 3 seed in the AFC at 12-4, but they have yet to clinch the AFC South.<\/p>\n\n\n

Seed<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Team<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Record<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Denver Broncos*<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

13-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

New England Patriots*<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

13-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

3<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Jacksonville Jaguars*<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

12-4<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

9-7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Houston Texans*<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

11-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Los Angeles Chargers*<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

11-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Buffalo Bills*<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

11-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Indianapolis Colts – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

8-8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Baltimore Ravens<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

8-8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Miami Dolphins – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

7-9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

11<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Cincinnati Bengals – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

6-10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Kansas City Chiefs – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

6-10<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Cleveland Browns – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

4-12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Tennessee Titans – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

3-13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

New York Jets – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

3-13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

16<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Las Vegas Raiders – eliminated<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2-14<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

*=clinched playoff spot<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Jaguars still have a wide range of outcomes on the table, as they can still claim the No. 1 seed through a series of unlikely results but could also fail to win the AFC South if they lose and the Texans win.<\/p>\n

In fact, Jacksonville enters Week 18 with the possibility of being either the No. 1, 2 3, 5, 6 or 7 seed in the AFC. The Jaguars know, however, that a win guarantees them a top-three seed and home playoff game regardless of other results.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong>2025 Fantasy Football Awards<\/a><\/p>\n

AFC South standings<\/p>\n\n\n

Rank<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Team<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Record<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Jaguars<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

12-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Texans<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

11-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Colts<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

8-8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Titans<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

3-13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

The Jaguars lead the AFC South through 16 games and need just one more win or a Texans loss to clinch the division. Only a loss and a Texans win would prevent Jacksonville from winning the AFC South.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Jaguars clinching scenarios<\/p>\n

The Jaguars’ path to clinching the AFC South is straightforward: either a win over the Tennessee Titans<\/a> or a Texans loss to the Indianapolis Colts<\/a> would get the job done.<\/p>\n

If the Jaguars win on Sunday but the Denver Broncos<\/a> and New England Patriots<\/a> also win, Jacksonville would be the No. 3 seed. The Jaguars would also be assured of the No. 3 seed if they won the AFC South but lost on Sunday.<\/p>\n

If one of those two teams loses and the Jaguars win, Jacksonville would be the No. 2 seed. In the event the Jaguars win but both the Broncos and Patriots lose, Jacksonville would actually be the No. 1 seed in the AFC.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

What about if the Jaguars don’t win the AFC South? In that scenario, they could be the No. 5 seed but would likely slip to No. 6 if the Buffalo Bills<\/a> won. In one convoluted scenario, a strength of schedule tiebreaker would allow Jacksonville to keep the No. 5 seed even after a Bills win.<\/p>\n

The nightmare scenario for the Jaguars is a loss and wins by the Bills, Texans, Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> and Patriots (for strength of schedule tiebreaker purposes). That would knock Jacksonville back to the No. 7 seed in the AFC. With the Chargers resting key players, however, Jaguars fans shouldn’t panic just yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jaguars playoff picture: Updated NFL scenarios for Jacksonville to clinch AFC No. 1 seed originally appeared on The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":492369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[55787,5229,532,8995,8997,1544,8999,3188,723,2505,9002,7310,8017,3570,535,8986,9003,533,5287,221839,1545,9007,211465,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-492368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-afc-south","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-buffalo-bills","12":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","13":"tag-cleveland-browns","14":"tag-denver-broncos","15":"tag-fl","16":"tag-florida","17":"tag-houston-texans","18":"tag-indianapolis-colts","19":"tag-jacksonville","20":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","21":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","22":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","23":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","24":"tag-miami-dolphins","25":"tag-new-england-patriots","26":"tag-new-york-jets","27":"tag-nfl-playoff-bracket","28":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","29":"tag-tennessee-titans","30":"tag-the-afc","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-of-america","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","35":"tag-us","36":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}