The Jacksonville Jaguars pulled off the impossible Saturday night, digging their way out of a 27-0 hole to beat the Los Angeles Chargers with a field goal as time expired.
The 31-30 win for the Jaguars was the third largest comeback in NFL postseason history and pushed the team through to the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Jacksonville stepped on every rake in front of them in the first half. Trevor Lawrence threw four interceptions and the Jaguars muffed a punt deep in Chargers territory to afford their opponent every opportunity to build a huge lead.
But the Jaguars clawed back and stole a win. Here’s how it all went down Saturday night:
Jaguars MVP of the game: Trevor Lawrence
Lawrence threw four picks. Four. And it’s still hard to say that anyone else could possibly deserve to be called the team’s MVP of the night.
In the second half, Lawrence was dialed in and picked apart the Chargers secondary en route to a four-touchdown, 288-yard night. After going to halftime with a 24.5 passer rating, Lawrence had a 144.5 passer rating in the second half.
Chargers MVP of the game: Asante Samuel Jr.
The Chargers’ massive lead early in the game came via the Jaguars making tons of mistakes. Trevor Lawrence threw four first half interceptions and it was LA’s Samuel who came down with three of them.
Samuel didn’t do much in the second half, but no player on the Chargers gave the team more of a chance to win than the defensive back.
Jaguars play of the game: Trevor Lawrence’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Zay Jones
Don’t turn that dial.#LACvsJAX on NBC pic.twitter.com/L3YotxjV9S
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) January 15, 2023
Cautious optimism switched to full blown hope near the end of the third quarter with Lawrence’s frozen rope down the field to Jones. The two-point conversion failed, but the Jaguars were immediately back in the game with the touchdown, regardless.
It was over when Travis Etienne broke free for 25 yards on a fourth down to set up a short field goal that Riley Patterson snuck inside the right upright.
Lol u wild Doug keep going#LACvsJAX on NBC pic.twitter.com/8zJhrS3ghY
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) January 15, 2023
Stat that says it all: Jaguars won the second half 24-3 and outscored the Chargers 31-3 in the last 34 minutes of the game.
Up next: The Jaguars could play any of four different teams in the Divisional Round and will have to wait until Sunday to find out which team it’ll be. The likeliest scenario is that the Jaguars will travel to play the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
