Jacksonville controlled its fate, starting 8-3, and finished losing five of six.
Trevor Lawrence had every chance to play the Jacksonville Jaguars into the playoffs for a second straight year as the AFC South champs.
He wound up stopped short of the goal line with 7:13 left, and he also turned the ball over on downs with 1:47 left as the Tennessee Titans eliminated the Jaguars 28-20 Sunday in their regular-season finale.
The Jaguars (9-8) came in needing a win to clinch a second straight AFC South title for the first back-to-back crowns since 1998 and 1999. Their loss makes Houston the division champs, costing the Jaguars their only way into the postseason after Pittsburgh also won Saturday.
Jacksonville controlled its fate starting 8-3 and finished losing five of six. Lawrence, who returned after missing last week with a sprained shoulder, was intercepted twice. The Jaguars also turned the ball over on downs three times — twice in the final 7:10.
Lawrence tried to rally the Jaguars from a 15-point deficit with a 14-yard TD pass to Evan Engram at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Titans, with the NFL’s stingiest defense inside their 20, stopped Lawrence a foot short as he tried to reach the ball to the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 1.
