PITTSBURGH — As what remained of a deflated home crowd trudged toward the exits, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles and cornerback Jalen Ramsey shared a hug.
Before he joined teammates for a lively celebration, linebacker Myles Jack slowly took a lap around Heinz Field to give out high-fives to as many Jaguars fans as possible.
The Jaguars continued their thrilling, surprising season Sunday by withstanding the cold and several comeback attempts by the Pittsburgh Steelers to come away with a 45-42 victory in front of a crowd of 64,524.
Sure enough, the Jaguars are one win from the first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.
Standing in their way are the New England Patriots, perhaps the greatest sports dynasty of any generation. The Jaguars and Patriots will meet in the AFC Championship Game at 3:05 p.m. Sunday at Gillette Stadium.
The Jaguars will be making their first conference title appearance since the 1999 season. For the Patriots, it will be their seventh in a row.
“We’re just going to live on this cloud for a little bit,” defensive tackle Malik Jackson said. “We understand we have a great New England team coming next week. We’ll start working on them soon.”
The Jaguars earned the chance to enjoy a hard-fought victory by overcoming the cold — the temperature at kickoff was 18 degrees, the fourth-coldest game in team history — to beat two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The cold temperature didn’t keep away Jaguars fans who traveled from Jacksonville and other parts of the country for the team’s first Divisional Round playoff game in 10 years.
Behind a suddenly high-scoring offense, the Jaguars raced to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. From there, they consistently fended off Pittsburgh, which cut their deficit to a single touchdown on three different occasions.
The Steelers scored an inconsequential touchdown with one second remaining to set the final score. But that did little to dampen the spirits of a team and fan base that continues to enjoy an improbable run through the playoffs.
“Shout out to everybody from Jacksonville,” Jack said. “We definitely felt y’all. I had to take that time to touch everybody’s hand that showed up and definitely give out some ‘Duval’ chants.”
“It’s a new era,” added Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler, “and people need to realize that. We aren’t that 3-13 team anymore. We’re a Super Bowl-contending team.”