Where does NY Jets’ start rank among worst in team history?

The New York Jets aren’t just struggling; they are on a trajectory to go down as one of the worst teams in franchise history.

As Jets fans know, that is a difficult feat to achieve.

Twelve games remain for Aaron Glenn’s team to escape that territory. For now, though, we can stack up the 2025 Jets’ five-game start against the previous 65 iterations of the team.

Is this the Jets’ worst five-game start of all time?

Not quite, but it’s up there. This is just the fifth winless start through five games in Jets history. Today, we’re going to rank them all.

Here are the bottom five Jets teams when it comes to the first five games, ranked from worst to best.

1. 2020 Jets (0-5, -86 point differential)

Adam Gase’s 2020 team wasted no time showing off its potential as an unstoppable tank. Five games in, not only were the Jets winless, but they had been outscored by 86 points (75-161).

All five of the Jets’ losses were by multiple scores. Making their lack of talent even more glaring was the fact that they won the turnover margin (5-7) and still got doubled up on the scoreboard.

The 2020 Jets are one of just three teams in NFL history to start 0-5 and get outscored by at least 80 points despite winning the turnover battle. The only other teams to do it were the 1976 Buccaneers and the 1966 Dolphins: two expansion teams in their debut seasons.

Yep, the 2020 Jets looked like the equivalent of an expansion team.

The 2020 Jets played their worst football at the start of the season before progressively trending toward respectability. They did not lose a game by one score until Week 7. It was their first of four one-score losses in a seven-game span, preceding their eventual two-game win streak that cost them Trevor Lawrence.

There is no question that the 2020 Jets were much worse through five games than the 2025 Jets, but there are still three victories to be gained before Aaron Glenn’s team can escape season-long comparisons from Adam Gase’s disasterpiece.

2. 1996 Jets (0-5, -70 point differential)

Before Adam Gase, Rich Kotite was the gold standard for coaching ineptitude in Jets history. Kotite went 4-28 across two seasons in New York, winning just one game in 1996.

There wasn’t one single issue that stood out with the 1996 Jets’ start to the season. They were bad at everything. They turned it over 12 times, scored single-digits in three of the five games, and allowed 30+ points in three of the five games.

New York’s offense produced just 11 points per game through Week 5. The only game in which the Jets eclipsed 20 points was thanks to third-year cornerback Aaron Glenn’s 100-yard pick-six in a 27-36 loss to Miami.

3. 1980 Jets (0-5, -47 point differential)

Walt Michaels eventually led the Jets to the first two playoff appearances of their “Sack Exchange” era in the 1980s, but they had to put up with a rough four-year stretch to get there.

Michaels failed to post a winning record in each of his first four years as the Jets’ head coach, leading them to a 23-39 record over that span. His fourth season, 1980, featured the worst start yet.

After a three-point opening loss to the Baltimore Colts marred by four turnovers, the Jets proceeded to lose four straight games by multiple scores. Fourth-year quarterback Richard Todd threw 10 interceptions through five games, kicking off what would become a 30-interception season.

The Jets won in Week 6, but they went just 4-7 after their 0-5 start. Michaels stuck around, though, and playoff appearances would follow in the next two seasons.

Already 14 years deep into a playoff drought, New York hopes it doesn’t have to wait five years for Aaron Glenn to deliver a winning season (not that he would make it that far if he starts 0-for-4).

4. 2025 Jets (0-5, -45 point differential)

Beating out the miserable 1980 squad by just two points, the 2025 Jets check in with the fourth-worst start in franchise history.

The Jets opened up with a promising 34-32 loss to the Steelers, outgaining Pittsburgh by over 120 yards but falling just a hair short due to a few bad breaks that could have gone either way. Overall, it felt like a strong performance that could be built upon.

If that game were a sign of things to come, the Jets would be on their way to a strong season right now. Instead, the Jets spiraled out of control over the next four games, landing them on this infamous list.

The primary crime of the Jets’ five-game start is that they have already suffered two egregious blowout losses at home. The scoreboard says they lost their games to Buffalo and Dallas by a combined score of 67-32, but that still undersells how poorly they actually played, as the Jets trailed 30-3 in both games before garbage time.

This is just the fourth time in franchise history that the Jets have lost two home games by 15+ points by the end of Week 5. Frighteningly, three of those instances have occurred in this decade (2020, 2022, 2025).

The Jets added two more one-score losses after the Pittsburgh game to help curb their point differential, but they couldn’t make the plays they needed to turn those moral victories into real victories. It’s especially concerning because one of those losses came against an otherwise winless Dolphins team.

Overall, the most glaring stat from the Jets’ five-game start is their turnover margin. New York’s -8 turnover margin is the worst in football this season and is tied with the 1975 team for the fourth-worst in franchise history through five games. Only the 1974 (-11), 2013 (-9), and 2016 (-9) teams started worse.

Some might look at that as a positive. Turnovers could be viewed as flukier than more sustainable aspects of the game. In that way, it can be argued that the Jets are due to see their turnover luck even out, and that wins will follow once it happens. Compare this to the 2020 Jets, who won the turnover margin and still got blown off the field.

After all, the Jets have recovered just two of 15 fumbles (13%) in their five games this season, so that has to even out at some point, right? Right?

The answer likely lies in the middle. While it is improbable that New York will recover 13% of fumbles all season long, turnovers cannot be solely chalked up to luck. The Jets struggle to generate takeaways due to a lack of pressure on the quarterback and soft coverage in the back end, while the offense struggles with fumbles due to the quarterbacks’ propensity for holding the ball and taking sacks.

If the Jets are going to put this historically bad start behind them, it has to come from a reversal of the turnover margin. Their -8 turnover margin is the worst among the five winless teams on this list.

That could mean they’re due for a much better finish than these teams, or it could mean they are the worst team in franchise history at the most important aspect of the sport. We’ll find out over the next 12 games.

5. 1965 Jets (0-4-1, -25 point differential)

Just the sixth season in franchise history (and third with the “Jets” nickname), the 1965 Jets got off to a winless start that inspired much more optimism than the one achieved by any of the other teams on this list.

Outscored by a measly 25 total points through five games, the 1965 Jets appeared to be on the brink of competitiveness in head coach Weeb Ewbank’s third season with the team. They lost three of their first four games by one score before achieving a tie with Al Davis’ Raiders in Week 5.

The Jets capitalized on this promise later in the year. Led by improvement from rookie quarterback Joe Namath, the Jets finished 5-4 over the final nine games, building optimism entering Namath’s second year.

Yearly progress followed. After going 5-8-1 in 1965 (their third consecutive year with that record), they went 6-6-2 in 1966 and 8-5-1 in 1967. Finally, they got over the hump with an 11-3 season in 1968, culminating in a championship.

You can trace the trajectory leading to Super Bowl III all the way back to the Jets’ five-game start in 1965.

Despite the winless start, the Jets appeared to be on the brink. Later in the season, they proved that to be the case, translating their close losses into victories. They built on that momentum each year until they reached the mountaintop.

This year’s Jets were unable to establish the same promise through five games. Instead of appearing to be on the brink, they have been outscored by nearly twice as many points as the 1965 team; if you remove garbage time, their point differential would be well over twice as bad.

Twelve games remain for the 2025 Jets to set a similarly strong foundation to the 1965 team, but they certainly have not been on that pace thus far.

Perhaps the lack of a promising rookie quarterback (which the 1965 team had) will hold the Jets back from truly setting any sort of sustainable foundation this year. That might be the case; after all, it is a major factor that separates them from their MetLife Stadium neighbors after last night’s dazzling display.

Still, the Jets have no excuse for not being significantly more competent than they have been so far, and that is all they must do to inspire faith in their future. As far back as 60 years ago, this same franchise exemplified the value of showcasing potential through competitive play, even if the final result was a poor record in the standings.

Going forward, the Jets need to look more like a team on the brink, and less like a team that warrants comparisons to the likes of the 1996 and 2020 Jets.