JACKSONVILLE – This still matters. A lot.

The Jaguars on Sunday will play their longtime AFC South rival, the Tennessee Titans, for a second time this month – and as Head Coach Doug Pederson sees it, there's meaning to the situation.

"You finish the way you want to finish," Pederson said.

Pederson, in his third season as the Jaguars' head coach, spoke to the media Thursday in advance of Sunday’s regular-season home finale – a game in which the Jaguars have a chance to win in Jacksonville for the second time this season.

"We're trying to win them all," said Jaguars quarterback Mac Jones, who will start for the sixth time in seven games Sunday in place of injured starter Trevor Lawrence. "It hasn't gone our way this year, but we do have a great opportunity this weekend. If you're a competitor and you get a chance to play in the NFL, you're going to go out and play your heart out.

"That's how I view it and I know the guys on our team are feeling the same way. This is a circumstance you may not want to be in. You have to view it as a challenge."

The Jaguars (3-12) have lost seven of eight games, including the last two. Nine of those losses have come by a touchdown or less, including a 19-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, this past Sunday.

The Jaguars were eliminated from the postseason with five games remaining.

"It's the NFL: Everybody watches the tape," Jaguars safety Andrew Wingard said. "Everything matters. That's it, plain and simple."

The Jaguars finish the 2024 regular season with back-to-back games in the AFC South. They visit the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday in the regular-season finale.

The Jaguars enter that stretch 2-2 in the division, already winning at home against the Colts and beating the Titans (3-12) on the road. The AFC South champion Houston Texans swept the Jaguars this season.

"You always want to have success in the division," Wingard said, "and for me, it's a game that they keep score in, so that's all that matters."

Victories in the last two games would give the Jaguars a winning record in the South for a third consecutive season. They only accomplished that feat twice in the first 20 seasons of the South, 2002-2021.

"Two division opponents, it carries you into the off season," Pederson said. "It's the momentum that you want. There's something to be said about that, to play well this week and try to do everything you can to try to get a win this week, then go to next week.

"Then you have to look at the rest of your schedule and go, 'Where did we miss? Where did we come up short in some of these other games?' Then it puts you in a position to each year compete for your division. This definitely would be a positive going into the offseason if we can do that."

The Jaguars and Titans on Sunday will play for a second time in four weeks, with the Jaguars winning 10-6 in a Week 14 game in Nashville on December 8.

"They know us, we know them," Pederson said. "There's familiarity with both teams."

Added defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, "We have to change some things, how we call it, down-and-distance situations, but we are who we are. We've been doing it for a while, but just how we call some things will be a little different than last time."

NOTABLE

• Left tackle Walker Little likely will miss the rest of the season with an ankle sprain sustained in a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders this past Sunday, Pederson said Thursday. Safety Darnell Savage remains in concussion protocol after being injured against the Raiders and is "day-to-day," according to Pederson. Little and Savage were among four Jaguars players missing practice for a second consecutive day Thursday with the others being linebacker Ventrell Miller (ankle) and defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton (illness). Three Jaguars players practiced limited for a second consecutive day Thursday: Right guard link-placeholder-5, tight end Brenton Strange (shoulder) and left guard link-placeholder-7.

NOTABLE

• Veteran Cole Van Lanen, who replaced Little against the Raiders, likely will start the final two games at left tackle. "We definitely want to see Cole in there," Pederson said. "He had a good preseason and he has filled in nicely. We'll see him over there. This will be good for him." Van Lanen, who started at right tackle against the Titans with second-year starter Anton Harrisonout because of illness, will make his second NFL start Sunday – his second at left tackle. "I thought Cole did a good job [against the Raiders],'' offensive coordinator Press Taylor said. "It's like we talk about with backup quarterbacks. You're one play away. It could happen on the first series, the first quarter, the second quarter. You have to catch up the speed up of the game at that point. You've been sitting on the sidelines watching and now you have to go out there block a guy who has been lathered up throughout the course of the game. I thought Cole did a good job. He's always done that when we've thrown him into the fire."