Once every few years or so, the fictional and real worlds cross so effortlessly that it begins to feel like everything in life is predetermined. This weekend is one of those times: When the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Buffalo Bills in the NFL playoffs just two days after the return of The Good Place, we’ll be witnessing a stupefying franchise turnaround made possible only because a television show willed it into existence.
NBC’s critically acclaimed comedy about the afterlife, which returned from its midseason hiatus on Thursday night, has a storied relationship with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Since the show began airing in 2016, its best bit has been its commitment to constantly dumping on the team. The show’s village idiot, Jason Mendoza, is a Jaguars superfan—because that’s how stupid he is.
Once, while tossing a Molotov cocktail, Jason screamed “Bortles!” the way Lakers fans shout “Kobe!” Reading his vows at his wedding, Jason shouted “Jacksonville Jaguars rule!” During his next wedding (long story), he wore a Blake Bortles jersey underneath his jacket.
The show makes it clear that Jason’s fandom is an exercise in futility, if not utter idiocy. In Season 2, Jason asks if the Jaguars had won the Super Bowl since he died.
Michael, the Bad Place architect played by Ted Danson, laughs before collecting himself. “Oh, you’re serious? Uh, no.”
“Will they ever win the Super Bowl?”
“Jason, I can’t predict the future,” Michael says. “But no. They won’t.”
The Good Place airs on Thursdays, so starting in November it took a break in the middle of its second season to accommodate NBC’s airing of Thursday Night Football. That was a lot of time to stew about the Jags, and when the show returned on Thursday, Jason was once again shredded for his Jaguars love during a roast in front of his entire neighborhood.
“You couldn’t stop talking about … that dumb quarterback,” Michael says to Jason. “What’s his name? Derek Bortles? Always ranting about Derek Bortles. Lucky for you, my friend, Jaguars games are the only ones televised in the Bad Place because THEY SUUUUUUUCKKKKK.”’
“No they don’t!” Jason says. “All we need is a defense, and an offense, and some rule changes.”
Of all the twists in the show, the most shocking is that Jason was exactly right. While The Good Place was on break, the Jaguars finished the 2017 season 10-6—double their highest win total from the past six years—and won the division for the first time since 1999. On defense, they allowed the second-fewest total yards and second-fewest points scored. On offense, they were fifth in points scored, sixth in total yards, and first in rushing. Blake Bortles, a human punch line who’s been mocked by pundits, opponents, teammates, and even Ted Cruz, has been competent. Now the Jaguars are hosting a playoff game for the first time this century, just two days after The Good Place returned and made an actual plot point out of making fun of Bortles’s name.
Some would say the Jaguars’ turnaround is a sign of the apocalypse, but it may be divine intervention. The Good Place, a show about people who are bad but want to become good, may have inspired a stunning character arc from Bortles himself. He thought he was good (drafted third overall) and then found out he was bad (11 wins and 51 interceptions between 2014 and 2016) but is now slowly becoming good along the way. Bortles might as well be a character on the show.
Don’t rule it out. The show doubled down on Jason’s love on Thursday’s episode, and it has tripled and quadrupled down on social media:
In fact, the show’s official Twitter account follows exactly two accounts.
The Good Place creator Michael Schur is also keenly aware of the Jaguars’ success. During a Reddit Ask Me Anything on Thursday, he was asked about the Jags QB.
As we watch Blake Bortles and the Jaguars take on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, a Super Bowl win may seem impossible. Jacksonville is limping into the playoffs after two consecutive losses, during which Bortles once again looked like a joke. But if Jason has taught us anything, it’s to have faith that people can eventually become good––even if it seems like a leap.
