Jaguars' breakdown against Titans completes a stunning late-season collapse

Talk about your "trap" games. Turns out that win-and-you're-in was too good to be true for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Instead of breaking out the caps and T-shirts that come with winning the AFC South crown, the Jags will be watching the NFL playoffs from home. Or from some beach in the Caribbean. Or while gone fishing.

No, the Tennessee Titans did not lay down like dogs.

Mike Vrabel's team, eliminated from the playoff picture weeks ago, played the role of major spoiler on Sunday and shocked the Jaguars with a 28-20 upset at Nissan Stadium.

Thus, the late-season collapse is complete for a team that at one time seemed poised to take the next step and establish itself as a legitimate AFC contender.

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Welp. Not now.

Maybe you saw this coming. Trevor Lawrence missed the Week 17 victory against Carolina with a sprained AC joint in his right (throwing) arm and was limited during practices last week. He clearly was not himself, as two picks and several wayward passes illustrated. 

Then there was the matter of location, location. The NFL's M.O. in recent years has been to fill the final week of the regular season with divisional matchups, and we know what that can mean. Throw the records out the window. When division rivals match up, familiarity and bad blood tend to follow. And this matchup happened to be slated for Nashville.

And let's not forget the misfortune of the Jaguars defense being tasked to contain an inspired Derrick Henry in what was likely his final home game as a Titan. Henry shredded Jacksonville for 153 rushing yards with a touchdown. Not pretty.

Which leaves the Jaguars (9-8), last year's division champ, with a big-time lesson for the future: Don't let it come down to Week 18, when Murphy's Law is waiting with a vengeance.

Sure, the Jags would have preferred to have had this thing wrapped up way before now. And six weeks ago, that seemed so possible, if not likely. After the Jaguars defeated the (now-AFC South champion) Houston Texans in Week 12, they were 8-3 as the calendar turned to December.

After all, Jacksonville issued a major statement during last season's playoffs with a stunning comeback victory against the Los Angeles Chargers in in the opening round.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the "next" playoff appearance. Disaster struck in the worst ways. A four-game December losing streak. A pile of injuries that transformed Lawrence from one of the NFL's most durable quarterbacks into walking wounded. Over the final weeks, Lawrence suffered a high ankle sprain, a concussion and then the A.C. joint.

His final pass on Sunday served as quite the metaphor for how the Jaguars' season sailed away with a loss to a team that finished 6-11. It was fourth-and-2, with the hope for a last-minute miracle hanging by a thread. Lawrence saw his tight end, Evan Engram, separate on a quick out route to the left flat. Open. There was minimal pressure. Time. But it was too good to be true. Lawrence's pass never came close as it floated way over Engram's reach and out of bounds.

No, this playoff push for the Jaguars was not meant to be.