The 1999 Jaguars Cursed Achilles Heel
This might be a strange thing to say, but in one very specific way, the 2007 Patriots are kind of lucky. They’re remembered. For all else that happened for them at the end of the season, we’ll never forget the 2007 Patriots. There are a lot of great teams that are not so lucky. If you’re a great team and have a great season, but you lose in the playoffs, especially before the Super Bowl, your cultural impact largely just flies out the window. Sure, the fanbase will remember it. Some of the more dedicated history fans will remember it. But the culture at large will pass you by. I feel like the 1999 Jaguars are one such team. If the 1999 Jaguars have any lasting impact, it’s for two things. One, they pulverized the Dolphins 62-7 in what would become Dan Marino’s final game, sending him out in possibly the worst final game any player has ever had (barring injury ones). Two, and this is the deep cut, they only lost 3 games all year. Exclusively to the Titans.
This does a pretty good job explaining why the Jaguars fanbase despises the Titans so much.
The Jags were 14-2. They had a tough defense and a solid offense with players putting up some of their best work that year. Fred Taylor. Jimmy Smith. Mark Brunell and Jay Fielder. James Stewart. The massive Tony Boselli. Tony Brackens. Keenan McCardell. Those of you old enough probably got some nostalgic shivers on those names. The team was coached by Tom Coughlin. The season featured the blowouts you’d expect, but also some nailbiters. But good teams win those games. The Jaguars did outstanding all year and only suffered two losses: their division rival Titans. The Titans were no slouches, going 13-3. But they needed a miracle in music city to squeak past the Bills in the playoffs while the Jaguars sent Dan Marino to hell. It was pretty easy to look at the Jaguars as the AFC contenders to face the mighty Rams. Probably would have been a great super bowl.
Instead, the Titans handed them a big fat L. The Jaguars ended the season 15-3, with 3 losses to the Tits. The Titans went on to give us one of the more memorable super bowls in history while the Jaguars faded into mediocrity. They wouldn’t even make the playoffs next year. There is some discussion to be had that the ’99 team is overrated as they had an easy schedule, but 14 wins is no joke even with an easy schedule. They deserve to be remembered fondly. If anything, the legacy of nuking Dan Marino from orbit is a nice capstone.
Fun fact: not only was Tom Coughlin the coach of that team, but Perry Fewell was the defensive backs coach as well. They would be reunited for the 2011 Super Bowl run, where Fewell was the defensive coordinator and honestly deserves a bit of a shout out for putting together a solid D through injuries all year. Spags and Belichick are the well-known SB defensive coordinators for the Giants, but poor Perry has been forgotten. Not by me, Perry. You’re cool.
Worth mentioning that the Titans had a stolen copy of Jacksonville’s playbook that season, hence why they were able to 3-0 them. Supposedly they got it at the end of 1998.
4th (or 5th) time you’ve used this template. That has to be a record.
Nah he’s used the lazy uniform designers way more times.
to be fair it’s a pretty amazing template
It’s versatility makes it a regular go to template. I mean, we can probably find a way to see this at least 2 or 3 times every season and it would still work every time.
I’d love to see this template remixed with the Nike Photoshop designers with something like “You mean we can reuse old templates?!”
Oh my god that would be awesome
Doesn’t even come close to the Nike Designers, they’ve been used over 10 times at least
This one is harder to re-use because even though the layout and punchline is the same, I have to redraw and recolor 95% of it each time I do it
Well, I want you to know I appreciate it, because it’s amazing every time you use it.
It could probably use its own name and/or tag, though for finding them all.
Maybe tag it Juggernaut or something like that.
Checks out
Oh yeah, i forgot about those lazy bois. And looking back at the other comics you have made with this template, you’re right, you have to redo like 97 percent of it.
Well fuck you for celebrating those Jags. Dolphins fans remember those Jags, and we were probably happier than most Titans fans after they thrashed them for the third time that year and sadder that they ultimately ended up losing to the Rams, given how it was just a few years after the move.
Also, the 18-1 Pats will be mostly forgotten by non Pats and Giants fans once Brady and Bellichick are gone
No it won’t, 18-1 is going to be a long remembered result unless someone pulls off a perfect season again
* Almost perfect season.
This reminds me of a YT post saying that Warren Spahn will be remembered as the superior pitcher while Koufax will be a distant memory despite the fact that both are well remembered over half a century later.
Stupid statement OP.
I wish that the Jags would have had a chance to to take out the American Underdog in the Superbowl.
Tangentially related, it is not THAT hard to beat a team three times in one season. Since the merger teams that have swept a divisional opponent in the regular season are 14-9 when facing them again in the playoffs. Since 1960 (when the AFL was founded) the record improves to 17-10.
Usually however the playoff rubber match isn’t between two legitimate Super Bowl contenders like Jags/Titans.
I don’t really think it’s that *easy*, either. I went back and looked at every season’s playoffs, beginning from the 1999 season (because that season is relevant to this post and I can’t be assed to look further back right now), and here’s what I found.
Of the many playoff matchups since then, I counted 32 of them between two teams from the same division. Of those 32 matchups, a whopping 21 of those were between teams that split their two regular season games. That leaves 11 remaining. Of those eleven potential three-game sweeps, seven of them were completed, for an overall success rate of 7/32, or 21.875%.
So you could argue that if two teams in the same division are both playoff-caliber teams, there’s just a 21.875% chance that one team will pull off a three-game sweep of the other, given the chance.
Plus you can argue that a team that was swept in the Regular Season will be pressed and too focused on revenge and winning the game by five scores while the other team is calm, confident and treating it like just another game.
Odds that you’ll use the same template for the 2001 Rams and 2002 Raiders?
Wouldn’t have mattered. If there was ever a team of Destiny the 99 Rams qualify.
Also Jimmy Johnson’s last game as an NFL coach, IIRC.
Any comments about FedExField not hosting the 2026 World Cup (I’d love to see a comic on that).