Transformation: The Jaguars are a different team from their first showdown against the Chiefs

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence will tell you it was in London after a two-interception game led to a crushing loss against Denver.

Members of Jacksonville’s defense will point to an uncharacteristically flat game against Detroit that led to a 40-14 blowout.

But the truth is it was in Kansas City — or sometime near after — where the Jaguars knew time was running out to turn their season around.

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Jacksonville left Arrowhead Stadium with a 3-7 record, limping into the bye-week after a 27-17 loss to the Chiefs that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated in Week 10.

The Jaguars found themselves in a 20-0 hole in the first half even though they were able to recover a surprise onside attempt on the opening kickoff and kept the Chiefs out of the endzone with an early Rayshawn Jenkins forced fumble.

They put the pieces together eventually and were able to close the gap, but it was too late as Kansas City coasted to victory in the second half.

For Jacksonville — which started the year 2-1 but fell into a five-game slide through the month of October — the loss put them near the bottom of the AFC South and dimmed the chances of postseason play.

But still, head coach Doug Pederson told players he saw them making it into the playoffs and as they kept chipping away, they’ve put together a 7-1 streak since the bye week.

’We’ve changed a ton’ since first matchup with KC

Evan Engram had a perfect response when he was asked if he thought the Jaguars were a completely different team from when they first played the Chiefs.

“I mean, go through eight games, you know, good or bad it's gonna be different,” Engram said Tuesday in the locker room.

The Jaguars have won seven of their last eight games since facing Kansas City and they’ve been able to put together winning plays in each of those games.

A big part of that has been the defense playing their best ball of the season in the last six games.

“I think we’ve changed a ton,” safety Andre Cisco said earlier this week. “That was before the bye week and a lot of our transformation came after the bye week. I think you could tell within our performances recently how much we’ve changed.”

Jacksonville has recorded 13 takeaways since their first game after the bye week in Week 12. A few of those were game-changing plays like Jenkins’ walk-off touchdown against Dallas or Josh Allen’s scoop-and-score against Tennessee in Week 18.

Plays that weren’t happening before are now becoming a more frequent occurrence for Jacksonville, and it’s been a big part of their turnaround.

“We’re putting all the puzzle pieces together,” outside linebacker Travon Walker said Thursday in the locker room.

Jaguars have Brady-like confidence in Trevor Lawrence

Defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell wasn’t drawing a straight line between second-year Lawrence and 23-year veteran Tom Brady, but he did invoke Brady’s name during his Wednesday press conference.

“I don’t like to talk about it, but it happened in Tampa when I was down there,” Caldwell said when asked if he’d ever seen a comeback like the Jaguars’ victory against the Chargers last week. “When you have a guy, we had Brady, and I’m not comparing the two, Trevor is his own guy, but when you have a guy that you believe in, as a defense, it matters to you. When you’re down 27, and you still believe you can win because you know who you have on the other side of the ball, it matters, and that’s the big point.”

A main ingredient for the Jacksonville’s turnaround has been the steady play of Lawrence. Since the Week 10 matchup, Lawrence has thrown for 2,563 yards and 18 touchdowns while only throwing six interceptions.

Four of those picks came in the first half against the Chargers last week before he responded by throwing touchdown passes to four different receivers. Now, a trip to Kansas City looms — a place that helped the Jaguars to realize their potential.

“Week 10 seems so long ago,” Lawrence said on Tuesday. “I think just speaking of the team, I think we’re in a really good spot. We have a lot of confidence, played a lot of football since then. We’ve won a lot of games since then. I think we’ve played much better this stretch than we did earlier in the season, so I think there’s been a lot of things.”

The Jaguars will face Kansas City on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. on NBC and Peacock.

Juston Lewis is a sports reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on Twitter at @JustonLewis_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars have transformed since Week 10 game against Kansas City Chiefs