The 1997 season was the Jacksonville Jaguars' 3rd season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 3rd season under the leadership of general manager and head coach Tom Coughlin. The team looked to reach the AFC Championship for the second straight year following a surprising run in 1996. The Jaguars improved upon their previous 9-7 record and won 11 games. They made the playoffs as a wild card team, playing the Denver Broncos on the road for the second straight year. This time they lost to the Broncos 42âÂÂ17, bringing the Jaguarsâ season to an end.
The team also made several changes to the uniforms. They changed the numbers to new font style numbers and added black side panels to the uniforms. During the offseason, the team had changed the font style numbers on the jerseys to a skinnier style with a black drop shadow in the back of the numbers. During the team's 1997 preseason games there were several complaints that the announcers and the viewers had a hard time recognizing the numbers on the players, so the team decided to make the jersey numbers wider and removed the drop shadow numbers by the beginning of the regular season.
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
After upsetting the Broncos in the playoffs in the previous year, the Jaguars fell short in the re-match. John Elway lead the Broncos to a 42âÂÂ17 win over the visiting Jaguars, throwing for 223 yards and a touchdown. Mark Brunell was 18 for 32 for 203 yards, but had no touchdowns on top of an interception. Similar to the year before when the Broncos could not stop Natrone Means and the Jaguars running game, the Jaguars struggled all game to contain the Broncos running attack. Terrell Davis carried 31 times for 184 yards and two touchdowns. Nonetheless, the game was close throughout, as the Broncos led by only 21-17 late in the third quarter. But the Broncos would score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, ending the Jaguars season.