Jacksonville Jaguars

Not many people outside Florida had probably heard of Jacksonville before the Jaguars arrived on the scene as an NFL expansion franchise in 1995, but the city has always a proud heritage of college football with its NCAA Jacksonville University Gamecocks and annual Gator Bowl (the previous stadium was actually called the Gator Bowl, parts of which were incorporated into the construction of EverBank Stadium, which now hosts the annual Gator Bowl game). This meant that there was already an eager fanbase (where isn’t there, in football-mad Florida?) when the Jaguars became Jacksonville’s first ever top-tier professional sports team. Unusually for an expansion franchise, the Jacksonville Jaguars actually had an excellent start to life in the NFL, qualifying for the playoffs in their inaugural season where they progressed all the way to the AFC Championship before falling 20-6 to the New England Patriots. They fell at the same hurdle again in 1999, defeated 33-14 by the Tennessee Titans. The good times did not continue, however, with the Jaguars making it to the playoffs just twice in the following 17 years. When they did come back, they did so in style, however, pushing past the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers only to lose the AFC Championship (again) to the Patriots, this time in an incredibly tight 24-20 game. The years since have seen their ups and downs (with a particular “down” being the 1-15 season of 2020), but with the Jaguars making an appearance in the AFC Divisional Playoffs in 2022, Jacksonville fans will be hopeful that their team can make some noise in the postseason going forward.