The Jacksonville Jaguars will open the 1998 regular season on the road for the second straight year, and they will close it in a nationally televised matchup in ALLTEL Stadium against the division-rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the 1998 NFL schedule that is being released today, the Jaguars' 1998 schedule includes two home games on "Monday Night Football" against the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers and a Sunday night game that will be televised on ESPN.
The Jaguars begin the season at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, September 6 when they visit the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. It is the first of four games against NFC Central Division teams. They will play their regular-season home opener at ALLTEL Stadium the following week when they host the Kansas City Chiefs in a 1:00 p.m. contest on September 13.
The Jaguars will host the Baltimore Ravens, a team they have never lost to, on September 20 in the first of two 4:15 p.m. home games, and they will close out September against the Tennessee Oilers in Nashville's Vanderbilt Stadium on September 27.
The Jaguars will spend the fifth weekend of the season idle, with no game scheduled for October 4. They will host their first of two "Monday Night Football" games on October 12 in ALLTEL Stadium against the Miami Dolphins with an 8:20 p.m. start. Then the team will go on the road for three straight weeks. First up is the Buffalo Bills on October 18, and then Jacksonville will travel to Denver to face the Super Bowl champion Broncos - the team that knocked them out of the 1997 playoffs - in a 4:15 EST game on October 25. It will be the Jaguars' fifth game in Mile High Stadium in four seasons, counting preseason and postseason.
November begins with the third straight road game, a November 1 contest at the Baltimore Ravens, who will be playing in their new stadium. The Jaguars will return home for the first time in a month and host two games. They will host the Cincinnati Bengals on November 8, and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will come to town on November 15. The Jaguars will travel to Pittsburgh for the first of two games against the Steelers on November 22, and they will close out the month on the road the following weekend in Cincinnati, their final road game against an AFC Central Division opponent.
Three of the four games in December will be at home, two of them against NFC Central opponents and two vs. divisional rivals. The Detroit Lions will travel to Jacksonville on December 6, and the Tennessee Oilers will come to town the following weekend for the season rematch. On December 20, the Jaguars will travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings in the Metrodome for their first away game ever on Sunday night. The season will end with the national TV clash against Pittsburgh on ABC's "Monday Night Football" on December 28.
