Jonathan Jones explains why the Jaguars are emerging as a legit playoff threat

The Jacksonville Jaguars were heavily favored to beat the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17. The fact that they were at one point a 6.5-point favorite was a sign that they were expected to dominate. However, that wasn't the case. Quite the opposite. The Jags made several baffling mistakes and were trailing for a good chunk of the game. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that they took the lead.

But despite their mistakes, Jacksonville came out on top, winning its seventh-game in a row, and that has Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports hopping onto the bandwagon.

Jonathan Jones likes that the Jaguars are finding ways to win

Following the win over the Colts, Jonathan Jones took part in a round table and said that he's seen enough to believe the Jags are legit, noting that they have managed to win a game despite the fact that they've been without several key players.

"Okay, I believe in the Jacksonville Jaguars now," Jones told his colleagues. "I believe that they can go out there once they beat the Denver Broncos, it's like, 'Yeah, okay, I've seen it now,' maybe not against the Colts, and maybe not against some of the other teams that they faced and beat handily, but last week, did it for me. I will allow Trevor Lawrence to have a mistake. I'm okay with that. I'm also okay with him doing it when Tuten is out for this game. So they're down a running back.

Jones continued, "Let's not forget they're also winning these games where they're down their No. 2 pick in Travis Hunter. And yeah, it wasn't necessarily working out, but things might have caught flames just a little bit, right? So they're down a guy that should be contributing in the past game, and they were down a running back, and Trevor Lawrence is getting it done with his legs."

For context, Lawrence scored two rushing touchdowns against the Colts and routinely took off when he had the chance. Jones made it clear that it wasn't the quaterback's best showing of the season but still found ways to extend drives.

"The thing that stood out to me while Trevor Lawrence didn't have an amazing stat line, 7-of-14, the Jaguars were on third down, so they just kept extending the drives, and that will wear out a good defense, right that they just couldn't get off the field. So credit to the Jaguars. I believed in them after last week. I will allow Trevor Lawrence to have a mistake against a good defense," Jones said.

Lawrence was 23-of-37 for 263 yards with one interception in Week 17. His two rushing touchdowns gave him 35 for the season, good for the second-most in a season in franchise history.

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Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars ultimately took care of business

You will be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks Trevor Lawrence played great against the Colts. That said, he wasn't dreadful, just a bit off, and as Jonathan Jones noted, he routinely found ways to extend plays by either buying time in the pocket or taking off.

But apart from Lawrence, the rest of the team made enough plays to trounce Indianapolis. And that's the thing, it wasn't the Jags' best showing in the season, but they still found a way to win, and that's what ultimately matters.

Ultimately, the Jaguars played well enough to beat the Indianapolis Colts. They'll next have a chance to finish the season strong when they face the Tennessee Titans in the finale.