The New York Jets simply never had the ball.
The Week 1 victory over the Tennessee Titans, which featured a tremendous time-of-possession advantage, feels like ages ago at this point. In Week 4, Aaron Glenn’s Jets were soundly beaten by the Chicago Bears, 23-12, on the road.
From the jump, Ben Johnson’s squad ran it down the throat of Glenn’s defensive front. All told, Chicago ran the ball 54 times for 232 yards, good enough for a 4.3 yards-per-carry mark — a number that should never reach that level with that outrageous number of attempts.
Second-year power back Kyle Monangai went for a cool 146 on 30 carries, while D’Andre Swift added 58 yards on 15 totes of the rock.
For the second straight week, Glenn’s defensive game plan featured more two-high looks that focused on limiting explosive plays. Similar to Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions last week, it felt like Glenn dared Johnson to remain patient with the rushing attack.
Unfortunately, that bet didn’t yield favorable results. Despite surprisingly starting Tyson Bagent in favor of Week 3 standout Case Keenum, Chicago did whatever it wanted in the rushing game, owning the time-of-possession battle by an outrageous mark of 42:45 to 17:15.
Still, Bagent played decently well. Although he was a little too fearless and loose with his reads in certain situations, his final line of 268 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interception, on 25 of 34 passing, was more than enough to earn the victory.
The defense’s lone positive moment came when Minkah Fitzpatrick snapped the Jets’ dreaded interception-less drought that lasted well over a full season.
Interestingly, Jets fans thought the most unlikely man on the defense snapped the interception drought just prior. Unfortunately, T’Vondre Sweat’s “thing of beauty” was called back via penalty.
His theft of Bagent in the second quarter wasn’t nearly enough to get the Jets’ offense going.
While Frank Reich’s offense didn’t have enough plays (just 29), it wasn’t all the defense’s fault. Braelon Allen’s 59 yards on 14 carries look respectable on the surface, but the meaning behind it fell flat.
Geno Smith finished with just 118 yards on 8 of 15 passing. He didn’t throw an interception for the fourth straight game, but he also looked extremely cautious while operating from within the pocket.
The offense’s lone chunk play came courtesy of a Geno-to-Isaiah Williams 58-yard touchdown that cut the Bears’ lead to 23-12 in the fourth quarter (the Jets’ extra-point attempt failed).
Absurdly, the 23-12 doesn’t even come close to telling the story of this one. Chicago’s dominance in the trenches, on both sides, is a tough pill for the Jets’ coaching staff to swallow. The final result could easily have been worse had Chicago’s opening-drive touchdown (Swift) not been called back after an official review, and had they not turned the ball over twice.
Jets X-Factor reported on the Jets’ ugly-looking run fits and gap integrity back in early August, and, unfortunately, it’s reared its ugly head so far this season.
The 1-3 New York Jets will lick their wounds and look to get back in the win column when they welcome the 3-1 Cleveland Browns to MetLife Stadium in Week 5.
