JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The disillusion, self-doubt and second guessing began almost immediately after the Jacksonville Jaguars suffered one of their worst losses ever.

	The Jaguars must find a way to contain Jevon Kearse this time around.

Then came the questions. Most notably, where do they go from here?

After a 41-14 loss to Tennessee in arguably the biggest game of the season, even coach Tom Coughlin had trouble answering that one.

"Obviously, we have to reflect inwardly about everything we do," Coughlin said. "How did it happen? Why did it happen? How does something like that sneak up on you? There's a lot of soul searching to do."

The loss was only the half of it.

The Jaguars (13-2) also learned Monday that Mark Brunell will miss the final game with a sprained ligament in his left knee.

Brunell has always been a fast healer and said he expects to be back for the playoffs. Still, the Jaguars couldn't escape these facts: For the second consecutive year, they'll head into the playoffs in a slump and with a quarterback at less than 100 percent.

Jay Fiedler will start Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, a game the Jaguars feel they must win -- if not for the division title and the bye week it will earn them, then to restore the confidence that vanished in the blowout.

"Forget about getting to Atlanta, winning the Super Bowl and all that other fun stuff," Pro Bowl tackle Tony Boselli said. "How about winning the division first, getting our bye week, getting guys back healthy and playing the way we're supposed to? Because if we don't change the way we're playing, we'll be at home real, real early this January."

Last season, the Jaguars also got blown out in their 15th game, a 50-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on the day they clinched the AFC Central title.

But Coughlin said this loss was worse, maybe the worst in the history of the team.

Last year, the Jaguars went to Minnesota without Brunell, who severely sprained an ankle sprain two weeks before. This year, Brunell was playing most of the first half, when the Titans were taking a 24-7 lead that made the second half virtually meaningless.

Last year, there was nobody ripping the Jaguars for a soft schedule and nobody who considered them a favorite to win the Super Bowl. This year, the soft schedule seems to be all anyone wants to talk about. After the flop against the Titans, that seems unlikely to change.

"We're hurt, there's no doubt we're hurt," receiver Keenan McCardell said. "We're hurt because we didn't play up to expectations. When you have a game like that, you want to play up to expectations. You want to show the world. It was a national game. We let some people down. We let ourselves down."

Jacksonville's lack of intensity showed in every phase of its game -- from an offense that gained only 237 yards and committed three turnovers, to a defense that gave up five touchdown passes.

The Jaguars blew a chance to clinch the division and take a stranglehold in the race for home-field advantage through the playoffs. Maybe most importantly, they squandered a chance to move into the postseason on a roll.

Coughlin said he was at a loss to explain how so many opportunities were squandered so completely.

"Does it concern me?," he said. "Yeah, you might underline that a couple times. It does concern me. It concerns me whenever you have a situation where the stage is set and for whatever reason, the performance is nowhere near what it needs to be. That's a major concern."