Made Men of the NFC North Still Keeping Jaguars on Ice

What the Jacksonville Jaguars have not accomplished against the other conference in the NFL has been nothing short of dreadful, and it's been well documented. If the team owners of the NFC were playing Monopoly, the Jaguars would be, depending on how old the board is, brown or purple and be known as the Baltic and Mediterranean Jaguars, with hotels prominent on the space.

"Duval's Finest" against the NFC North? Brutal at 9-25. The NFC West? Pathetic at 8-20. The NFC East? Nauseating at 12-20. But things aren't so bad versus the NFC South at 15-18.

Depressing and laughable all at the same time, the AFC South placed 8th in NFL.com's Ranking all eight NFL divisions entering 2025 season. As a member of the last-place division, the Jaguars only have a winning record against one group, and, ironically, it's the AFC North, second place in this exercise. But it's not a stunner to learn that the Jacksonville Jaguars have a losing record against the division ranked first, the NFC North.

This particular conglomeration of league franchises was fantastic last year, with three teams, the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and Green Bay Packers, all earning spots in the playoffs, while the Chicago Bears didn't but made huge moves in the offseason and are a team on the rise.

Jax vs. Motown started with a 44-0 blowout in late 1995, but the team from the Gateway to Florida took three straight from 1998-2008. That's when fortunes turned back to the Lions with five straight wins over the smaller cats, including a 52-6 drubbing last season. Detroit owns the series, 6-3, and has outscored the Jags by 90 points in the last three contests.

Also, with a 6-3 record over the Jaguars, the Chicago Bears have outscored Jacksonville 246-149 and have won two consecutive games. Last season, the woeful Bears won in the Windy City 35-16.

The Packers and Jaguars aren't a historic rivalry in any stretch of the imagination, but last year's contest at midseason was must-see TV with Brandon McManus hitting a game-winning field goal at the final gun for a 30-27 win for Green Bay, who lead the head-to-head, 6-2.

The most one-sided series of the four is the one vs. Minnesota. Last season, the Vikings extended the ledger to seven wins vs. one loss with a 12-7 victory and six-straight over the Jags. Jacksonville's only triumph came in the second game between the two on 12/23/2001.

The rotation doesn't wheel around again for another three years, but Liam Coen's team will face one of these teams again next season.

The sting of getting swept last season is something that will stick with the players that remain and should serve as a reminder that when this team gets to the point where they beat the tougher teams of the NFC, they will be closer to being a capo, and not even Tony Soprano can whack that.

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