The 5 Most Intriguing Games on the Jaguars' Regular Season Schedule

Doug Marone and the Jacksonville Jaguars at long last know how their 2020 regular season schedule shakes up, giving the team a chance to begin game planning and formulating how they will attack training camp and the start of the season.

This year, the Jaguars are slated to play the AFC and NFC North divisions, along with games vs. the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Chargers. The Jaguars will travel to the west coast, to Lambeau Field, and to Minnesota in their latest trek toward a winning season.

For the first time since 2012, the Jaguars will be playing all eight regular season home games in Jacksonville. For the first time since 2014, Jacksonville will also not be playing AFC South rival Tennessee Titans in a prime-time game. Add all of these elements together, and the Jaguars have a unique layout for this year's 16 games.

Among the games, which stand out as the most intriguing and potential exciting? There are a number to choose from, but we narrow it down to five to determine which games are worth highlighting on the Jaguars' roster.

Week 1: Indianapolis Colts @ Jaguars

If the Jaguars are going to get the 2020 season off to a positive start, they will need to be on their 'A' game in the season opener vs. the Indianapolis Colts. The Jaguars haven't lost to the Colts at home since 2014, outscoring the Colts 155-73 in the process, including outscoring the Colts 44-20 in the two home games they have played against head coach Frank Reich.

But on the flip side, the Colts offer quite a few challenges for the Jaguars that they didn't offer last year. This year, the Colts have a viable receiver option across from T.Y. Hilton with pro-ready rookie receiver Michael Pittman Jr. -- something the Colts didn't have in any of the previous matchups. The Colts also have defensive tackle DeForest Buckner for the first time following trading a first-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for him. Buckner is one of the best penetrating defensive linemen in football today, and he has the kind of skill set that A.J. Cann and Andrew Norwell would struggle mightily against.

And finally, the Colts are now being led by veteran quarterback Philip Rivers. Rivers has long been a thorn in the Jaguars' side, going 7-2 vs. Jacksonville in his career and throwing 24 touchdown passes to just five interceptions. The Jaguars have dominated the Colts in Jacksonville in recent years, but this Colts team saw significant upgrades at three key positions, making this year's matchup as intriguing as any past Jaguars-Colts bout.

Week 8: Jaguars @ Los Angeles Chargers

If there is any year in which the Jaguars could have a chance to earn their first-ever road win vs. the Chargers, it could be 2020. While the Jaguars have never once been victorious against the Chargers in California, this year they will be coming fresh off of a bye when they travel to Los Angeles, and there is also no longer the presence of Rivers to cause defensive coordinator Todd Wash heartburn in the week leading up to the game.

Instead of Rivers, the Jaguars will be facing either Tyrod Taylor or No. 6 overall pick Justin Herbert. The Chargers seem content with sitting their rookie quarterback behind the veteran Taylor, but Taylor hasn't played starting-caliber football in a few seasons. There is a real chance that his tenure as starter could last either most of the season, or just a few games.

The Chargers' defense will once likely prove to be a problem for Jacksonville considering the presence of Joey Bosa and perhaps the best secondary in the NFL, but the Jaguars will get their first look at what playing the Chargers without Rivers will look like. Rivers dominated the Jaguars at essentially every turn during his time with the Chargers, but the team is entering a new era. Now, the Jaguars will get a chance to make the start of that era a bit tougher.

Week 10: Jaguars at Green Bay Packers

In the 25 seasons the Jaguars have played, they have only traveled to the most historic and fabled NFL stadium twice to play the Green Bay Packers. Once in 2012, a 24-15 loss, and once in 2004, which was a 28-25 Jaguars victory. In 2020, the Jaguars will get a chance to travel to the frozen tundra once more.

From Gardner Minshew II vs. Aaron Rodgers, to CJ Henderson vs. Davante Adams, to Jawaan Taylor vs. Za'Darius and Preston Smith, to DJ Chark vs. Jaire Alexander, there are a number of intriguing storylines to follow in this game aside from the fact that the Jaguars are traveling to Green Bay for the third time ever.

Judging from simply 2019 results, the Packers are the second-best team on the Jaguars' schedule following a year in which they earned the No. 2 seed (best team is Baltimore Ravens). This will be an interesting battle between two teams who rarely play each other, a craft veteran quarterback squaring off vs. an ascending signal-caller in Minshew, and more.

Week 12: Cleveland Browns @ Jaguars

It is always interesting when the Jaguars play former No. 1 overall picks. In this game, they will play a team that boasts two recent top picks in quarterback Baker Mayfield and defensive end Myles Garrett. How the Jaguars' defense adjusts to defend Mayfield and his stacked arsenal of weapons will be a major factor, as will the performance of Taylor and left tackle Cam Robinson vs. Garrett.

The Browns have been media darlings for each of the past two seasons thanks to their abundance of NFL stars on each side of the ball. Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry vs. CJ Henderson and Tre Herndon will be a battle, while the Jaguars' young receivers facing off vs. the Browns' young secondary could go either way.

The Jaguars will also have their hopefully revamped run defense truly tested in this battle. They added a number of run defenders in Rodney Gunter, Al Woods, Joe Schobert, and DaVon Hamilton but they will be forced to test their mettle vs. the running back duo of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, who combined for 1,673 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in 2019.

Week 16: Chicago Bears at Jaguars

Nick Foles and Allen Robinson returning to Jacksonville for potential revenge games is going to be a storyline surrounding the Jaguars for much of the end of the regular season. Foles and Robinson had dramatically different tenures in Jacksonville, with Foles playing in only four games while Robinson spent four years in Duval.

But each likely has a legitimate bone to pick with the Jaguars. Foles has an argument to make that the Jaguars gave up on him too soon, and nobody would argue with him if he stated 2019 was one of the worst football years of his life. As for Robinson, he opted to leave Jacksonville for the Bears after the Jaguars failed to work out a long-term deal with him following a 2017 ACL injury. All Robinson has done since is re-establish himself as one of the best receivers in the NFL.

We will also see Jawaan Taylor vs. Khalil Mack, which will likely be the greatest test of the talented right tackle's young career thus far. With this game coming at the end of the season, Taylor should be in a groove and at his best. His performance against Mack will tell us a lot about how high his ceiling truly is, and how close to it he is to reaching it.

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