Buccaneers, Dolphins, Jaguars have chance to make history for Sunshine State

The Jacksonville Jaguars are the newest of the three Florida NFL franchises, holding their debut campaign in 1995. Since then, the Jags have won four division titles, including last season.

Jacksonville also captured division crowns during the 1998, 1999 and 2017 campaigns.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been around since 1976 and have won their group eight times, sharing the honor with the Jaguars in 1999 and 2022. While the Miami Dolphins have been around the longest and have won 14 division titles, none of them came when both Jacksonville and Tampa Bay were also on top.

The Dolphins had five division crowns in the 1970s alone and five more in the 1980s during the Don Shula days, including four straight from 1971-74 and five in a row from 1981-1985. Miami then finished first in 1992 and 1994 during the second half of Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino's career.

Since then, the Dolphins have only claimed first in the AFC East in 2000 and 2008.

Florida's chance at history comes roughly six months after a brutal stretch of sports defeats on the highest stages for teams in the state.

In early April, both the Florida Atlantic Owls and Miami Hurricanes men's basketball teams lost in their NCAA basketball tournament Final Four contests. In the NBA and NHL respectively, the Miami Heat and Florida Panthers lost to the Denver Nuggets and Vegas Golden Knights in their leagues' championship rounds. Florida lost to LSU in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the men's College World Series in late June.

While asking for three specific NFL teams to win on a given day seems like a tall task, each of the Buccaneers, Dolphins and Jaguars should have a good chance at victories in Week 18.

Both Jacksonville and Tampa Bay have road games on Sunday afternoon, but the contests are against two of the worst teams in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers, respectively. Miami has a tough "Sunday Night Football" battle with the Buffalo Bills on tap, but they play at home. If the Dolphins can get some of their key injured players like running backs De'Von Achane and Raheem Mostert, as well as wideout Jaylen Waddle on the field, they should have a good shot at capturing their first division title in 15 years.