JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson called 2024 the hardest season he has had in his coaching career, and the Super Bowl LII winner acknowledged it could be his last, too.

The Jaguars (4-12) head into Sunday's season finale at Indianapolis having tied an NFL record with nine one-score losses this season. They haven't beaten a team with a winning record, have scored 17 or fewer points eight times, are last in the NFL in pass defense and 31st in total defense, and endured season-ending injuries to four key offensive starters (including quarterback Trevor Lawrence).

They've also lost 17 of their past 22 games after an 8-3 start to the 2023 season that had them in contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

All of that has put Pederson's job in jeopardy as his third season with the Jaguars comes to a close.

"You go all the way back to high school, middle school, have a season where you had 12 losses -- and it's hard to do," Pederson said Friday. "The hardest thing probably is just keeping the guys in it each week mentally. It'd be easy for them to kind of check out. So, from that standpoint, it's hard. Obviously, the pandemic year in '20 was another difficult one with the challenges of COVID and the safeguards in place that we had to do, the social distancing and all that, that made it difficult.

"But this one was tough. It was tough just to maintain the focus and the drive and each week be competitive, and still give ourselves opportunities to win games."

Owner Shad Khan has not given any indication about his plans regarding Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke. Khan told the team in a pre-training camp meeting that this was the best Jaguars team ever assembled and his expectation was to make the playoffs, so the team's failure to do so could mean both could be let go next week.

Pederson said he's aware of the speculation that he could be fired but that he hasn't let that impact him -- his faith helps keep him and his family grounded, he said -- and is operating under the premise that he'll be back in 2025 until he learns otherwise.

"[My family has] been around this league almost 30 years, player and coach, and you've seen a lot of things," Pederson said. "If this is the last one, then I can look back and go, 'Hey, it was a great run. You had a chance to do a lot of great things. You had a chance to win a Super Bowl. You've coached some great players. You played in this league for a long time.'

"So, whatever happens, happens. But we keep moving forward."