The Jacksonville Jaguars are coming off of a win over the New England Patriots in London to move to 2-5, and although it does not seem possible in the moment, head coach Doug Pederson is hoping to lead his team back into contention for a playoff spot and the AFC South title.

“I would say this: anything's possible,” Doug Pederson said, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “But listen, it's a one-week-at-a-time mentality as you know, and you just try to go 1-0, you just try to figure out how to win a game this week.”

The Jaguars are in similar territory as they were in 2022, when they were 2-6 and 3-7 at different points, but rallied to win the AFC South as well as a playoff game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Jaguars are pulling from that experience to try to do something very similar this season.

“But I think we can lean and look back on that time and say, ‘Hey we've been here before, we know what this looks like. What did we do well then that we can apply to today?'” Pederson said, according to Simmons. “There's a lot of ball ahead of us and yet, I think each week now becomes a little bit more important for us as a team.”

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Can the Jaguars rally to make the playoffs?

In the AFC South, the Jaguars are three games back of the 5-2 Houston Texans for first place. The Indianapolis Colts are 4-3 as well, but the Jaguars do have a win over them from a few weeks back. Having already lost to the Texans makes the hill steeper to climb in the division race. When it comes to the Wild Card race, that might be the more attainable goal, as the seven seed is currently held by the 4-3 Denver Broncos.

The standings talk is all meaningless if the Jaguars are not able to win games. These next five games are huge tests for them. This coming week is against the Packers, one of the NFC's top contenders so far this season. The following three games feature three more NFC playoff and Super Bowl hopefuls in the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, before the Jaguars play their second matchup with the Texans.

After that stretch, it lightens up with games against the Tennessee Titans twice, New York Jets, Las Vegas Raiders and Colts. Regardless, if the Jaguars want to make the playoffs, they will have to earn it against the quality opponents coming up on their schedule.