Football fans tend to overreact. Opinions are formed week-to-week and can change on a dime depending on which teams win and lose.
New York Jets fans are no strangers to this. For 14 years, they have been the doormat of the NFL. They haven’t made the postseason during that timeline, and haven’t had a winning season in the last nine.
It’s been an ugly mark in team history – one that not even a Hall-of-Famer like Aaron Rodgers was able to fix.
Despite all the problems, the Jets believe their new regime led by head coach Aaron Glenn can fix everything.
With Rodgers officially announced as the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback following a disastrous two-year run with New York, though, some fans are worried Glenn’s tenure will hinge on a fateful Week 1 showdown against those very Steelers.
That couldn’t be further from the case, though.
Jets’ True Test
Jets fans would love to see their team go out in Week 1 and find a way to defeat their former quarterback.
Would it mean their playoff drought will end this season, or serve as proof that Glenn was the right hire all along?
Of course not.
A potential loss in Week 1 doesn’t sink New York’s chances, either. It’s not some indictment against Glenn and the new regime that is trying to build a sustained winner.
The reality is that Glenn’s true test this season won’t come against Rodgers in Week 1. It will come during New York’s first losing stretch.
A big reason why New York failed during the Rodgers era, and many years before that, was because they never knew how to dig themselves out of holes. Two-game losing streaks would quickly turn into five-game slides that ended the year.
In each of the last nine seasons, New York has had a least a three-game losing streak at some point during the season. In each of the last three years, New York has suffered a losing streak as long at least five games.
When the wheels came off, they came off quickly. And it became impossible to get them back on under the previous regime.
That is the true test for Glenn this season and moving forward.
Can he keep New York afloat when things get tough? Can the locker room stay together instead of pointing fingers as they did during each losing streak?
If Glenn can figure out a way to answer “yes” to both questions, he will have passed his first real test as head coach of the Jets.
Week 1’s showdown between Rodgers and the Jets is mostly for the fans. New York and Pittsburgh could be competing for a playoff spot by the end of the year, but the Jets’ main goal is to play competitive football this season and end their current stretch of losing seasons.
A loss to Rodgers may sting, but it won’t have some underlying meaning that New York picked the wrong people to guide them into the future.