The New York Jets are now 1-3 after losing badly to the Chicago Bears. That has started the drum beats about “same old Jets” among the faithful fans who took close losses against Green Bay and Detroit as signs the Jets had turned the corner.
If they’ve in fact turned the corner, they’ve only encountered a familiar wall. Head coach Aaron Glenn doesn’t want to hear it.
“There are too many people who want to think about history,’’ Glenn said after the Chicago loss. “Inside that locker room, I want my guys not to think about history, because it’s going to be brought up so much from the outside, people beating us down with history,” Glenn added. “We just have to circle the wagons and not let any of that come inside our locker room.”
Glenn might want to stick his head in the sand, but the history of New York Jets starts in a similar vein to 1-3 doesn’t augur well. In fact, the Jets have a history of slow starts being hard, if not impossible, to overcome.
The last time Gang Green started with a 1-3 record was 2016. Todd Bowles was the head coach, with Chan Gailey as offensive coordinator and Kacy Rodgers handling the defense. After a magic 2015 season with the Jets going 10-6 behind the sterling quarterback play of Ryan Fitzpatrick, they plunged to 5-11.
Fitzpatrick had engaged in an offseason contract war and missed a lot of critical team activities. Then, once under contract, his play reverted to his historic norms, i.e., not that great. He threw six (6!!) interceptions against the Kansas City Chiefs and gave up his throne to the immortal Bryce Petty.
Add in the decline of aging stars like cornerback Darrelle Revis and receiver Brandon Marshall, and injuries to center Nick Mangold and receiver Eric Decker, and it’s only surprising their record was not worse.
While the Jets are 1-3, Jets fans know what a 0-4 start means: start watching the NFL Draft pickings before Halloween. Last year, the team started 0-7, finishing 3-14.
In the 2020 season, the Jets started 0-13 before finishing 2-14. In 2019, they started 0-4 but managed to rebound to 7-9.
1-4 starts don’t have a great track record, either. In 2021, the Jets started with that record and finished 4-13. In 2018 at 1-4, they finished 4-12. And in 2014, they started 1-4 and finished 4-12.
As any investment broker will tell you, past performance is no indicator of future returns. But these are the New York Jets, who possess the longest active postseason drought in North American professional sports at 15 years and counting.
In other words, Aaron Glenn can close all the doors and windows to his locker room, but losing is like a snowball rolling downhill. Beating the Cleveland Browns is starting to look like a “must” win.
