Jaguars vs. Packers: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written in the fourteenth century by an Italian poet named Dante Alighieri. The first portion of the poem features a section called "Inferno," and in it, his main character and namesake, Dante, passes a sign marking the entrance to Hell, warning travelers of what lies ahead. And so, the Jacksonville Jaguars, like Dante, approach a point of (nearly) no return, as they prepare to face a quality Green Bay Packers club in Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season.

Does that overstate the situation a tad? Perhaps the comparison of suffering through another cataclysmic season devoid of hope to the damning of one's immortal soul seems a bit beyond the pale.

But, does it? Nah. Long suffering fans in Duval totally get it.

A loss to the Packers would only add to Jaguars fans' frequent suffering

Should they lose to the Packers, the Jags will fall to 2-6, and enter into the final nine games of the regular season that will be not unlike the nine circles of hell described in Dante's Inferno. Hope more or less goes out the window after a Packers loss. After all, the odds are so heavily stacked against them that fans may as well hope to walk a tightrope over boiling blood to make the playoffs.

From that point forward, each loss would march them closer and closer to the pit of despair. In Dante's Inferno, only divine intervention was able to help Dante along the narrow path required to navigate the way through the nine circles of hell and into purgatory.

And so it would go with the Jaguars should they lose to the Packers. At 2-6, they wouldn't be technically eliminated from the playoffs yet, but the path forward would be so precarious, that it would take a miracle to make it through the nine levels ahead.

"Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars."

- Dante Alighieri

The Jags can avoid all of that, or at least delay it, by winning against the Packers. They can change the narrative from a hopeless descent into Hell to a climb toward the Heavens. Doug Pederson's most identifiable career characteristic may turn out to be that he is one heck of a streaky coach. His career in Philadelphia was rife with heaters and losing streaks

Pederson won nine in a row in Philly's Super Bowl 2017 season and closed 2018 out by winning five out of six to make the playoffs. The following year, he won the last four games of the 2019 season to squeak into the playoffs.

Of course, everyone in Duval remembers Pederson stringing together five wins in 2022 to win the division and set up an epic playoff win. They also remember him losing five of the last six games in 2023 to tank that season. Should the team use the New England Patriots game in London along with the Packers game to catch fire and go on a run, it would be not out of character for a Doug Pederson team.

But, certainly, winning five or six in a row would seem a lot more achievable than eight or nine. In order to avoid such a nearly hopeless task, the Jags must win on Sunday, come Hell or high water.

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