Aw, go on and salivate, Jaguars fans. You've earned that right!

Jaguars fan Eric Hall holds his signs as he joins other fans outside TIAA Bank Field to cheer.
Jaguars fan Eric Hall holds his signs as he joins other fans outside TIAA Bank Field to cheer. / Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY
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Enjoy and rejoice, Jacksonville Jaguars fans! After being in the cellar of the league for many years, the Jags are one of the best teams in the NFL.

The Jacksonville Jaguars got on a roll just one year after playing their first game ever in 1995, making the playoffs five straight years and reaching the AFC Championship game twice. Not bad for an expansion team, right? For a moment, the Jags were riding high and seemed poised to be the cream of the crop for years to come. But in the early 2000s, the front office started to move on from the players that made their early success possible and weren't able to find suitable replacements.

Although the Jaguars still made the playoffs a few times throughout the 2000s, they weren't nearly as dominant as they were at the end of the previous decade. Several bad drafts left the roster devoid of talent and it didn't look like things were going to get worse but they did in 2010. Losing more than 10 games in a season became the norm and to make matters worse, rumors about the Jags possibly relocating to London started swirling. Simply, there weren't many reasons to celebrate if you were a Jaguars but then, the 2017 season happened.

Jacksonville made the AFC Championship for the third time in franchise history on the strength of the defense. Had bad officiating not favored the New England Patriots in that game, the Jags would have probably faced off against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52. The silver lining is that Jacksonville had a stout defensive core and a quarterback that was good enough not to lose games in Blake Bortles, so returning to the playoffs in 2018 seems reasonable. Well, about that...