Weather forecast will make things interesting when Jaguars face Vikings in Week 10

The Jacksonville Jaguars will try to keep their playoff hopes alive when they face the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10. While they're the home team, they'll probably be without quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who's dealing with a shoulder injury and may be unavailable for the game. To make matters worse, the Jags have to deal with less-than-ideal weather conditions.

Granted, the Jaguars have to deal with the heat and humidity of Florida in September, so they're used to playing in less-than-favorable weather conditions. That said, things are going to be a bit different when they welcome the Vikes in Week 10.

NFLWeather projects a weather of 79 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity levels of 79 percent. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The issue is that there are projected to be gusts of 21 mph throughout the game. Moreover, there's a 35 percent of precipitation, meaning that it could rain Sunday.

That's certainly not the kind of conditions that the Jags will want to fend off Minnesota. Then again, both teams would be affected, so neither will get an edge.

The weather could affect the Jaguars and Mac Jones when they play the Vikings

Mac Jones will start if Trevor Lawrence isn't good to go. That's the most likely scenario when you take into account that No. 16 was limited in practice and head coach Doug Pederson didn't sound overly optimistic about his chances of playing Sunday.

If Jones does get the nod, he probably won't be able to dial up deep shots. Instead, running backs Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby could be in for a big workload. The trouble is that they, along with D'Ernest Johnson, have been dealing with injuries.

The silver lining is that Etienne didn't pop up on the injury report after being a limited participant in practice. On the other hand, both Bigsby and Johnson got the questionable tag. That means that Etienne may get the lion's share of the offensive snaps. Either way, the Jaguars will face the No. 2 defense against the run, so they may have a hard time moving the football regardless of who totes the rock.

On the opposite sideline, Sam Darnold, a former first-round pick like Jones, is enjoying a career revival in Minnesota. While he won't be getting an All-Pro designation anytime soon, he's made enough plays and avoided mistakes to help the Vikings go 6-2.

If it rains, Minnesota will lean on Aaron Jones, who's toted the rock 125 times for 565 yards with two touchdowns this season. Currently, the Vikings rank 30th in rushing touchdowns scored and 21st in rushing yards. Then again, Jacksonville has had trouble defending the run, so Ryan Nielsen's unit will need to be ready.

It's not a given that it will rain but the Jaguars will need to be ready in case it does. Either way, they cannot afford to lose Sunday. Otherwise, their season could come to an early end, which won't bode well for Doug Pederson and his chances of keeping his job.

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