Jaguars take a slight dive in NFL Power Rankings after loss to Lions

Following an electrifying win to the Baltimore Ravens, the Jacksonville Jaguars seemed poised to get on a hot streak and make a playoff push. But they couldn’t seize the opportunity and instead got crushed 40-14 by a superior Detroit Lions team. Not surprisingly, the Jags took a dive in most NFL power rankings. What stood out was that their tumble wasn’t a big one.

The Jaguars popped up at No. 24 in the power ranking Dan Hanzus of NFL Media put together and got the same spot in Pete Prisco’s. In both instances, they moved down one slot. Meanwhile, the Bleacher Report staff placed Jacksonville at No. 25 and was reminiscent of the time everyone thought they were turning the corner.

"Remember when we thought the Jacksonville Jaguars were turning a corner? That the franchise was finally ready to take a real step toward respectability? Those were the good times, good times that lasted until the opening series of Sunday’s face-plant in Detroit."

B/R goes on to say that the loss was a stark reminder that the Jags “still have a long way to go” and cite the defense as a cause for concern, and they aren’t wrong. Detroit didn’t punt a single time in Week 13 and Jacksonville made Jared Goff look like an upper-echelon quarterback.

Of course, the offense also played a role in the embarrassing loss. They managed to muster 266 total yards and 14 first downs. You will have a hard time keeping up in a shootout with that kind of production, so you could make the case that both the offense and the defense deserve to share the blame.

The Jaguars suffer the lowest low vs. the Lions in Week 13

Although the Jaguars have been highly inconsistent this season, they hadn’t beaten a team and collapsed the following week in such a lopsided manner. Following the loss to the Lions, head coach Doug Pederson talked to Bucky Brooks and said that Jacksonville simply didn’t do enough to win.

“Tale of two weeks”, right?” Pederson said. “It’s the highest high and the lowest low and it’s not good enough. It’s embarrassing quite frankly. Communication on offense, turnovers on offense, dropped passes on offense. Can’t get off the field defensively, eight possession leads, what else do you say? That’s the ballgame, and we have to somewhere, somehow, we’ve got to figure this thing out.”

So what can the Jaguars do moving forward? Pederson told Brooks that they must turn the page and prepare for the Tennessee Titans, their Week 14 opponent.

“It’s just short-term memory. It’s forgetting the past and let’s focus on the future. Great win last week, and that’s we’re excited and everything but this is a different week, it’s a different set of circumstances. It’s just like now moving forward, Tennesee next week”, Pederson said.

The Jaguars will next face off against the Titans and a win would surely help everyone forget how badly they crashed and burned against the Lions in Week 13. Hopefully, Trevor Lawrence will suit up. Otherwise, things could get pretty ugly for the second straight week.