The Jacksonville Jaguars are going to the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots.
Stick that in your pipe, smoke it and savor the intoxicating aroma of Cool Karma.
Jacksonville 45, Pittsburgh 42, in Sunday's dramatic upset that shook the foundation of predictability when the season began months ago.
Bleacher Report listed them as 100-1 odds to reach the Super Bowl. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook had them at 80-1.
Look at them now: On the precipice of defying everyone, including the swankiest of teams, the Patriots. Beat the Patriots next Sunday, and smile at everyone who doubted because the Jaguars will be Super Bowl-bound.
Of course the "haters" _ queue up most annoying sports cliche today _ were perfectly right not to believe.
The Jaguars had a new coach in Doug Marrone.
They had a quarterback, Blake Bortles, dealing with horrible mechanics and prone to throw the ball to the other team, never a good thing.
They had an ambivalent fan base in a stadium that needed a tarp to cover up empty seats.
But they did have one very good factor in their favor:
Tom Coughlin was back as executive vice president of football operations, his second run in Jacksonville after coaching the team from 1995 to 2002.
Coughlin runs things very sternly, like boot camp, only with football helmets. There are rules for everybody, and lines that don't get crossed, including rules for sports writers on protocols covering the team.
Players couldn't wear tinted visors during practice. There was a "five minutes early" rule for practices and functions. White sleeves, black cleats and black socks at practice, and no improvising.
Little things that added up to big things as the Jaguars advanced to the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the AFC.
"Coach (Tom) Coughlin and Coach (Doug) Marrone, their leadership, they just have this standard that you have to abide by," defensive end Calais Campbell said Sunday, reflecting on a journey that began in training camp.
"The culture of understanding what it takes to win?" Coughlin was asked back then. "For a team that has not won anything in five years? It's not easy. It's not an easy thing. So practices are 2 { hours long. They're fully padded. They'll be in the heat. There's a lot of contact. You work your way into the understanding that nothing good has ever been accomplished without sacrifice _ sacrifice, self-denial and discipline, the discipline that goes with it."
Sacrifices reap rewards, and a trip with Vegas house money to Foxborough, Mass.
