The Jacksonville Jaguars have had a rather strange 2022 season. They weren't really given much of a shot to win their division, let alone make the playoffs, entering the year, but with the regular season now in the books, they ended up winning the AFC South. Jacksonville certainly got some help from playing in a weak division, but making the playoffs is no small feat.
With the four seed being theirs entering the playoffs, the Jaguars are in a pretty good spot entering the playoffs. They won six of their final seven games to unexpectedly emerge as the champion of the AFC South. They now enter the playoffs with home-field advantage in the Wild Card round, and it goes without saying that they are playing their best football of the season.
Even though they won their division, not many people are giving the Jags a chance to make much noise in the playoffs this season. Still, anything can happen in the playoffs, and if the Jaguars are alive, they have just as good a shot as anyone else to win a championship. With that in mind, let's take a look at why Jacksonville will end up winning the 2023 Super Bowl.
Why the Jaguars will win the 2023 Super Bowl
The Jaguars 2022 season was one of extreme growth. As previously mentioned, they weren't really given much of a shot to do anything entering the year. They were such a dysfunctional mess last season that it was tough to envision them really becoming better this season. Early on this season, that appeared to be true.
Jacksonville was playing better football, but that didn't prevent them from crawling out to a 3-7 start through their first ten games. They managed to finally start turning those close losses into wins, and finished with a 9-8 record that was just good enough to find their way into the playoffs. Now, anything is possible for the Jags.
Their first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers isn't exactly easy, and they aren't even favored to actually win the game. But Jacksonville will manage to avoid the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round. That increases the likelihood of them making a deep playoff run pretty drastically right off the bat.
Of course, winning one game isn't going to get you to the Super Bowl, and chances are the Jaguars will have to go through two of these three teams to make it to the big game. That's a daunting task in its own right, but it's not totally out of the picture to envision the three top teams in the AFC beating each other up, making things easier for Jacksonville as the postseason goes on.
The Jaguars have seen massive improvement on both sides of the ball to fight their way into the playoffs this season. Their offense, led by quarterback Trevor Lawrence, has finally figured things out. He has a lot of playmakers at his disposal in the passing game, and that versatility has helped the offense find its footing.
On defense, Jacksonville has a young, underrated group that is largely responsible for them making the playoffs. Josh Allen's 37-yard fumble recovery touchdown ended up being the game-winning score in the Jaguars Week 18 contest that determined who would win the AFC South. They aren't the league's best defense, but they are a sneaky good unit entering the playoffs.
When the Jags play complementary football, they are a very tough team to beat. They lack consistency, but we have seen inconsistent teams get hot at the perfect time and go on a run all the way to the Super Bowl. It's not out of the picture to suggest that something similar could happen this season for a young, hungry Jacksonville team that has a lot to prove this postseason.
Of course, it's far more likely that the Jaguars will flame out early against a talented Chargers team in the Wild Card round. Jacksonville has home-field advantage, but will they be able to keep up with L.A.'s high-powered offense, or slow them down on defense? There are a lot of questions surrounding the Jags that nobody really knows the answers to entering the playoffs.
Sometimes, that mystique can end up working in your favor. The Jaguars have shown the ability to win with their offense or defense this season, while also going completely cold at different times. Finding a balance between the two would be helpful, but it isn't very likely given what we have seen in the 2022 season.
Despite that, Jacksonville has a lot of talent, and they have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the second half of the season. If they get hot, it could spell trouble for the rest of the league, and they are worth keeping an eye on, as they could end up sneaking their way to the Super Bowl despite the crowded AFC playoff bracket.
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