Early in the preseason, Malik Jackson predicted we'd be a Super Bowl team.

Even though some of us liked his moxie, I don't think even the biggest Jaguars homer thought we stood a chance of reaching those lofty goals. But as it turns out, Malik Jackson may have been right.

For the first time since 1999, I see a possible path to the Super Bowl for us, and I say this in all seriousness.

Yes, a lot has to go right for us to get there, but that's the case for every Super Bowl team. Here's how I think we get there.

1. We have to win out. That isn't so far fetched, but it will be tough. It starts this Sunday. Houston, a divisional game, is winnable. But as a divisional foe we can't take them lightly. But if we can replicate our week one performance against them and their 3rd string QB, we should win. More on the winning out a little later.

2. Pittsburgh must beat New England this Sunday. I thought I had met my very rare quota of actually rooting for the Steelers once within a year, but as fate would have it, they would be a huge ally for us. New England is currently a game ahead of us for the 2nd seed in the conference, thanks to their upset loss to Miami. If Pittsburgh beats New England this Sunday and we take care of business, we'll be tied record wise with the Pats. However, we win the tiebreaker over the Pats at that stage. Head to head would not be applicable, but we would have the better conference record. Of our four losses, only two were to AFC teams (tacks and Jets). If New England loses to Pittsburgh, that would give them their third conference loss (KC, Miami, then Pittsburgh). Assuming both teams won out after this week, we'd be the #2 seed, barring an inexplicable Steelers collapse.

3. Ideally, San Francisco beats Tennessee. Record wise, that seems farfetched. However, San Francisco will not be chalk for either us or Tennessee. The 49ers have been playing well of late. Garoppolo has played two games for the 49ers and they have won these last two. Meanwhile, Tennessee has struggled of late. They barely eked out wins over the Colts and Browns and lost to the Cards. A Tennessee loss to San Francisco this week and a loss to the Rams the following week could have them out of the playoff hunt and demoralized by the time we play them week 17. There would be talk of coaching changes.

If it plays out like that, Jacksonville would end the regular season as the #2 seed and have the first round bye.

By my guess, the seeds would be:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Jacksonville
3. New England
4. L.A. Chargers
5. ???
6. ???

Here's where things really get dicey.

Under the above seeding, I would predict New England and L.A. Chargers to win the Wild Card round. The lowest remaining seed would travel to Pittsburgh for the divisional round, while the highest remaining seed from the Wild Card weekend-in this case New England-would come to Jacksonville.

Now anybody reading this would groan at the idea of facing Brady and Belicheck in the playoffs. I wouldn't exactly be thrilled at the prospect. However, I think we match up pretty decently against the Patriots, arguably better than we have against any Patriots team in our history. We can rush the passer, which is a key to success against Brady. We can also cover very well. If you remember the way Brady picked us apart in the playoffs in 2007, he was able to do so because we couldn't rush the passer and couldn't cover pretty well. In fact we sat back in zone the entire time. This defense shouldn't fall into that trap, at least to the degree we did in 2007. This team is capable of producing turnovers. Against the three Super Bowl winning QBs we've faced this year (Big Ben, Flacco and Wilson), our defense has come up with ten (10) INTs! The one defensive matchup that would concern me is Gronkowski. I think the way to beat new England's defense is to be physical, and we are capable of doing that. Belichick is capable of scheming ways of taking away an offense's best weapon. But I think brute force is a way around that. Yes, the Patriots would be a tough matchup for us, but if this team is going to go to the Super Bowl, playing New England would be inescapable, IMO, and our best shot of beating the legendary Brady and Belicheck in the playoffs would be right here in Jacksonville instead of in Foxboro.

This likely brings us to our old nemesis Pittsburgh. Historically, our team has been fearless when it comes to Pittsburgh. We beat the Steelers in our inaugural season for our franchise's first ever home win. We've played well in Pittsburgh over the years. FT's best ever performance was in Pittsburgh. The Jaguars are the only team in NFL history to beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh twice in the same season, accomplishing that in 2007. This year, we handed the Steelers one of their two losses, blowing them out 30-9. We ran the ball at will against the Steelers and picked off Big Ben five times. I think if we had to travel to Heinz Field this postseason we could win there and reach our first ever Super Bowl.

Now I said likely because it's possible the Chargers could beat Pittsburgh in the divisional round. In that case, we'd host them in the AFC Championship game if we beat new England. While I do not like the matchup against the Chargers, I do think we are better equipped to face them now than we were earlier in the season. Bortles is playing better than he was at that point, and that is attributable in large part due to the development/emergence of Keelan Cole and Dede Westbrook. Those two offer a vertical element to the passing game that we lacked in our prior meeting. Cole played in that first meeting, but he seems to have improved since then. IIRC, Westbrook was not available then, but though he is a rookie, he has demonstrated a polish and a savvy that many rookie receivers do not display.

As I indicated earlier, a lot has to go right for the remainder of the season to unfold as I laid out above. But the suddenly not so crazy part is it's doable. If the team stays healthy, continues to take care of business, if Bortles continues to play well, this, indeed, could be a season more special than anyone-Malik Jackson notwithstanding-could have reasonably foreseen coming into this season.

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