How Did Jack Die On 'This Is Us'? It Was Finally Confirmed That He's Gone

Before you even had a chance to put away the box of tissues from the previous episode, Tuesday night's episode of This Is Us brought out the feels all over again. And this time, it was after finally learning the fate of Jack, the patriarch of the family whose lives we're watching unfold in present day. And now that we know that Jack isn't around anymore, how did Jack die on This Is Us? Unfortunately, we don't yet know what happened to him or how or when he died, but we've been given a few clues throughout the season so far.

In one episode, we saw a flashback of Jack over-drinking and how that impacted his marriage and home life with Rebecca. At the time, she made it clear that his drinking was becoming a legitimate problem and should no longer be something to do at the end of the day in order to blow off steam. Then, in Tuesday's episode, Kate told Toby that in 2006, she wanted to watch the Superbowl with her dad and she did. Now, this could either mean that she watched it with his ashes by her side like she currently does, or that he was still alive at the time to physically be there with her. There has to be a reason why she keeps his ashes.

So, how did Jack die on This Is Us? Right now, we're free to speculate on all fronts, since we still don't have much to go on, but there are a few theories that could work in this case.

He Died On The Job

One Redditor, bead-itqueen, posted that since Jack told Rebecca that their babies' car seats were cop approved, it alluded to the fact that he himself was a cop and could have been killed in the line of duty, unexpectedly. To add to this, Miguel could have been his partner. When we see them drinking in a bar at the end of the day, they're both in suits, making it plenty possible that they were detectives of some kind.

He Succumbed To Liver Disease

This is the most obvious suggestion as of right now, mostly because we've seen Jack drinking far too much, and the way Rebecca spoke, it sounded like the drinking had become an ongoing problem. So far, This Is Us isn't about showing us parts of the past for no reason, so showing us that weak time in their marriage could have been to set up their eventual downfall as well as his own, via alcohol.

It Was Cancer

Right now Randall is dealing with losing his biological father to cancer. Could he be so desperate to save him because not only does he want more time with him, but he doesn't want to lose another father the same way? With little else to go on at this point, whatever happened to Jack could be any number of things, but we know for sure now that he did, in fact, die and that Rebecca didn't necessarily leave him at some point during the more rocky parts of their marriage.

As the season unfolds, we'll likely get more answers about what happened to Jack on This Is Us, even if it will bring out the feels in every single one of us.