He who laughs last, laughs best.
There’s a lot of laughter in Pittsburgh.
The Jacksonville Jaguars handled the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 8, a solid 20-10 win. But they took their celebration too far, grabbing Terrible Towels from the stands and twirling it on the field.
Safety Andrew Wingard, No. 42 in that video, continued to take shots at Pittsburgh after the game, making fun of their “tiny little towels.”
Those towels showed up in Tennessee Sunday afternoon. And they waved the Jaguars a hearty goodbye, losing to the Titans and eliminating themselves from the playoffs.
Since that moment, Jacksonville skidded to the finish line. They went 3-6 after beating Pittsburgh, including a four-game losing streak that sent them from 8-3 to 8-7, falling as a potential No. 1 seed to now sitting at home next weekend. Over their final six games, the Jaguars won just one, beating only the hapless Carolina Panthers.
Entering Sunday, the Jaguars’ playoff path was simple. Win and get in. Lose and go home. QB Trevor Lawrence returned to the lineup after missing last week with a shoulder injury. He struggled throughout, tossing a pair of picks and putting Jacksonville in a hole. On the back of RB Derrick Henry, likely his final game as a Titan, Tennessee took a 21-13 lead into the half and extended it to 28-13 entering the fourth quarter.
Jacksonville attempted to come back, Lawrence hitting TE Evan Engram for a score on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Jaguars had a chance to tie the game but a 4th and Goal sneak attempt by Lawrence stopped inches short, fumbling the football before breaking the plane. Tennessee hung on to win, burning clock and getting one final defensive stop, a fourth down throw by Lawrence falling incomplete. With no timeouts and under two minutes to go, the Titans knelt the ball down to secure the win.
After the game, the Steelers’ Twitter account got a shot in on the Jaguars, sending this tweet in response to Wingard running around Acrisure Stadium with the Terrible Towel over his head.
Whether it’s LenDale White, T.J. Housmanzadeh, or others, the Terrible Towel curse lives on. Mess with it and face the consequences. For Jacksonville, that means the start of a long offseason. For Pittsburgh, they’re preparing for Wild Card weekend.
