Holding an 0-7 record for the first time since 2020, New York Jets fans have reached a familiar apathetic state as they continue to endure abysmal quarterback play.

Justin Fields’ struggles under center have been so severe that head coach Aaron Glenn benched him at halftime of the team’s 13-6 loss to the Carolina Panthers. While Glenn has yet to make an official decision, ESPN’s Rich Cimini reported that the team is leaning toward naming 36-year-old veteran Tyrod Taylor the starter for Week 8.

Owner Woody Johnson’s sharp criticism of Fields at the NFL’s fall owners meetings only adds weight to that expectation.

Following the Jets’ Week 7 collapse, I posted a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter), asking fans whether they preferred Fields to remain the starter, Taylor to take over, or undrafted rookie Brady Cook to be promoted from the practice squad and step into the starting role.

Here are the results, based on 379 votes.

Taylor (45.9%) came out as the slight favorite, but narrowly behind him was Cook (44.6%), while Fields earned only 9.5% of the votes.

Taylor remains the Jets’ most sensible option behind center. His two-interception performance in relief on Sunday was not flawless, but his command of the pocket and aggressiveness in attacking downfield gave New York’s offense a dimension it had been missing with Fields.

It is time to realize that the Fields experiment was a colossal disaster, and the team should not trot him out there for another start this season. Everyone saw what they needed to see to realize that he simply isn’t playing like a starting-caliber NFL quarterback.

Cook will most likely get an opportunity to start games at some point this season (as he should, given the team’s QB room), but as we discussed in a recent column, right now isn’t the time to thrust the UDFA into his first few NFL starts.

Three of the Jets’ next four games will be played in hostile road environments (Cincinnati, New England, and Baltimore), with a home matchup against Cleveland’s dominant defense wedged in between.

Throwing the Missouri product into that stretch would be asking for disaster. For an undrafted rookie still adjusting to the NFL, those environments could quickly shatter his confidence and development.

Should the Jets’ offensive woes linger beyond Week 13, more manageable matchups against Miami and New Orleans could provide a reasonable opportunity to see what the rookie can do.

No matter how bleak the record looks, rushing Cook onto the field now wouldn’t jump-start the season; it would only risk compounding the team’s problems.

If the offense continues to sputter later in the season, there may come a point where giving Cook a late-year audition makes sense. But at this stage, Taylor should be the Jets’ starting quarterback, and while many Jets fans agree, the Cook contingent is growing larger by the week.