JACKSONVILLE – Words came tough, understandably so.
Trevor Lawrence searched for the right ones, and so did Liam Coen – and it was Lawrence, the Jaguars' starting quarterback – who said what he and the rest of the 2025 Jaguars absolutely believe in the wake of a remarkable, franchise-altering season.
Sunday wasn't the end. Not even close.
"I do feel like it's sustainable," Lawrence said moments after the Jaguars' 2025 season ended with a 27-24 loss to the Buffalo Bills in an AFC Wild Card Playoff game at EverBank Stadium Sunday afternoon.
Added defensive end Josh Hines-Allen. "We've got a lot of guys that are hungry. We're going to attack this offseason, grow from this off-season and come back ready to win the whole thing next year."
Lawrence, who completed three touchdown passes Sunday – two in a high-end, back-and-forth fourth quarter – was quick to say that optimistic feelings guarantees nothing going forward. Coen, the Jaguars' first-year head coach, said it would take time to process Sunday's outcome – and that he wasn't "100 percent sure what to say" to players following their first loss in two months.
"You don't really plan for what you're going to say after the season ends," Coen said. "We'll be fortunate to be able to get together tomorrow, get the guys in there, communicate, be able to swallow this one and keep it moving."
The Jaguars, after finishing 4-13 in 2024, won their last eight games of the 2025 regular season to finish 13-4 and win their first AFC South title in three seasons. Coen became the first first-year head coach in NFL history to coach a team to 13 or more victories after the team lost 13 or more the season before.
Lawrence, who set a franchise record with 28 touchdowns – 29 passing, nine rushing – in his best NFL season to date, called it "a fun year."
"Not even thinking about next year," he said. "I have so much confidence in this group and the staff and the direction we're heading, but that doesn't make you feel better about the season ending today when we feel like there was more out there for us. So it's still really, really disappointing. Guys care a lot about it, and that's why we're all feeling this way."
Hines-Allen called the season "the most fun I've had in a while," with linebacker Foyesade Oluokun adding, "You gotta come in next year, or this offseason, keep working, keep grinding."
"Nothing's given in this league," Oluokun said. "You can build on it, but you got to reestablish everything when you come in next year. It's a new team. I wouldn't say new identity, but it's a new year, you got to keep reproving it."
Lawrence added, "We're going to have to have a great offseason and get back into it in a few months and prepare the right way, and it's going to be a new team and a new journey that we've got to go on, and we've got to earn it every week. There's no guaranteed success, but I do feel like this is sustainable, the things that we're doing.
"You have to earn it every year. It's not just going to happen. I guess that's the best way to put it."
Coen late Sunday called it "an honor to be the head coach of this football team."
"This group of guys, the organization, people that I'm fortunate enough to work with on a day-to-day basis … has been extremely gratifying to be in this role, obviously," Coen said. "You learn so much in your first year of doing it. To be able to self-scout and self-evaluate it in the off-season to give yourself a chance to win these type of games in the future.
"But putting ourselves in a position to compete like champions every day and see what that looks like next season."
The '25 season marked not only Coen's first season as head coach, but the first season with James Gladstone as general manager and the first season with Tony Boselli as executive vice president of football operations. The Jaguars in addition to winning their third AFC South title, the fifth division title in franchise history, also won the second-most games in franchise history.
Their eight consecutive late-season victories marked the second-longest regular-season winning streak in franchise history.
"I hope that we've established a standard of competing at a high level, of mental and physical toughness, of putting the team first, and that we're going to make every decision as an organization that puts the team and 'the grass' first because that's what matters," Coen said. "That's what it's all about, trying to put your players in a position to be successful, both on the field and in the building as much as possible.
"The details matter, continuing to try to set those new standards and keep moving forward."
