Why Jaguars Are No Longer Satisfied with Just Winning

Coming into the 2025 NFL season, new head coach Liam Coen had just one goal for his Jacksonville Jaguars: to become a better football team than they were when he first landed the job. Well, they've certainly done that. They went from a 4-13 team in 2024 to a legitimate Super Bowl contender in Coen's first year at the helm.

At 12-4, the Jags are on pace to claim the AFC South crown and have kept the door open to climb into No. 2, or even the top spot in the AFC. Jacksonville should be thrilled with its win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17; only, it was much too close for comfort, as the Jags survived a narrow 23-17 thriller with 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, Indianapolis Colts, Trevor Lawrence, Philip Rivers — Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) meet on the field Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, after the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Indianapolis Colts 23-17 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jaguars have to be better

While the Jacksonville Jaguars have more than fulfilled Head Coach Liam Coen's original goal this season, their incredible run has moved the goalposts. Now that they're true title contenders, they can't be satisfied with shaky wins like the one they just had against the Indianapolis Colts. It was great when they were pulling out one-score victories in the beginning of the year, when they were still learning how to close games, but the showing they had in Week 17 will make for a quick postseason trip.

Trevor Lawrence threw his first interception in five games versus the Colts, costing the Jaguars a chance to tie the score or take the lead before halftime. He did enough to get his team the win, finishing with 263 yards on 23-of-37 passing, two rushing touchdowns, and the one turnover. Jacksonville media asked him if the Jaguars' new standard led to frustration with their performance throughout the afternoon:

"i'll take that." - Germaine Pratt

📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/xHOMnSZEGj
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) December 28, 2025

"Yeah, a ton of frustration. Not now, I guess, because you win, and that's what – you have to enjoy the wins, because you put in all this work to win games. And it's not always pretty, and I think can be looked at as a positive. The last few weeks, we've been in control of a lot of these games, and haven't necessarily had to just go win at the end. And today we had to do that. It’s a tight game, had to make some plays, defense had to have some huge stops, and they did it. So, I think it's all good for your team to learn and grow, and obviously more fun to learn and grow from wins."

"So, we'll take that, and we’ve got to get better. We didn’t play our best today. But it is frustrating, especially throughout the game, when you leave a lot of points out there, you get in some drives and turnovers when you have a lot of momentum, and there's plays there. That play before the half, throwing an interception there, I feel like one, I should have just made a better throw and hit Parker [Washington] for the touchdown, but you give away three points there, give them some momentum. So, there are a lot of things that we need to clean up, and I know we will."

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