When you think about it, this is our fault.
For some cockamamie reason, we thought the Jets would be a contender. That Joe Douglas had built a force to be reckoned with in the AFC that would challenge for a playoff spot, thus breaking a 14-year drought in the process. That soon-to-be-41-year-old Aaron Rodgers would play like his usual Hall-of-Fame self in his first full season with Gang Green, harkening back to when he was 28 or 31 with the Green Bay Packers. That the defense would remain elite and provide the foundation for this hard-nosed, blue-collar club that would capture the New York City area with the cross-stadium-rival Giants floundering and unable to get out of their own way.
How stupid were we?
The fact that the Jets still do not have adults running the show was lost in the potential glitz and glamor of a respectable football team. In Woody Johnson’s 25 years of owning the Jets, they have made the playoffs six times, have not seen the postseason since the 2010 season, and have not had a winning record since 2015.
He has whiffed embarrassingly on his general manager hires in the last 12 years. John Idzik went 12-20 in his two years in charge from 2013 to 2014. Mike Maccagnan was 24-40 from 2015 to 2018. Douglas has somehow been worse, going 13-36 over the last three seasons — a measly .265 win percentage.
Head coaches have been as embarrassingly incompetent. Adam Gase was a pompous trainwreck. Robert Saleh was in way too far over his head before he was fired earlier this season, and interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich is really just a warm body holding a clipboard and wearing a headset.
Ulbrich fumbled away a late Jets lead on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts after his side rallied to overturn deficits of 10-0 and 13-3 behind a 24-3 scoring run. After Rodgers connected with tight end Kenny Yeboah for an 11-yard score to put the Jets up 23-16 one minute into the fourth quarter, the veteran quarterback immediately signaled to the sideline to go for the two-point conversion to make it a two-possession game. Ulbrich pulled the offense off the field and went for the extra point instead, which made it an eight-point game.
The Colts answered with a touchdown to pull within two before the Jets methodically marched 43 yards on 13 plays into Colts territory, eating more than seven minutes on the clock. With 2:44 to go and facing a 4th-&-2, a first down would have practically iced the game. Instead, Ulbrich elected to kick a field goal to put the Jets up five. In the most predictable series of events, the Colts streaked down the field to score the game-winning touchdown, escaping MetLife Stadium with a 28-27 win, which dropped the Jets to 3-8 on the season.
No team since 1990 has made the playoffs after starting the year 3-8, which only adds statistical figures to the sobering reality that Johnson’s most talented team he has ever had will not make the playoffs again.
The Jets love to point the finger at people to blame. This season, that has become their M.O. when trying to explain how a team with such promise can fall on its collective face this many times.
It could be Rodgers’ fault. Father Time remains undefeated, and despite working his way back from a torn ACL, he cannot effectively throw the ball downfield.
It could be the offensive line’s fault. Their protection has been shoddy at times.
It could be the defense’s fault—their effort has been questioned more than once this season. Perhaps they are tired of trying to keep a misfiring offense that scored more than 24 points for the first time in 2024 on Sunday in contention.
It could be Ulbrich’s, Douglas’s, or Johnson’s fault for enabling players rather than creating an organized, winning culture.
But really, it is our fault for thinking that anything with a Jets logo would shed the generational discord that has kept a franchise from consistently finding tangible success.
That should not happen again until Johnson sells the team and a new owner cleans house and scrubs every corner.
