Aaron Glenn spent the offseason trying to win back Jets fans. After Sunday, the leash looks a lot shorter.
New York got blasted 23-12 by the Bears in Week 4, a final score that flatters the Jets more than it should. Chicago piled up nearly 500 yards of offense and ran 89 plays to New York’s 32, turning what looked like a respectable box score into a far uglier reality.
The loss was the Jets’ third straight, and it put them on pace for what could become an 11th consecutive losing season. Glenn tried to keep the outside noise from bleeding into the locker room.
“Inside that locker room, I want my guys not to think about history, because it’s going to be brought up so much from the outside, people beating us down with history,” Glenn told reporters. “We just have to circle the wagons and not let any of that come inside our locker room.”
The problem is that the numbers are getting harder to ignore.
New York committed 12 penalties for 76 yards, and that was only part of the mess. The Jets’ pass rush, supposed to be one of the team’s strengths, has not come close to delivering the kind of impact the roster suggested it might.
According to The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt, among 218 defenders with at least 25 pass-rushing snaps from Weeks 2-4, rookie edge rusher David Bailey is the only Jets player with at least a 9 percent pressure rate. His 10.6 percent mark ranks 90th league-wide.
The sack total looks decent at nine, but the pressure hasn’t been coming from the names New York needed most. Will McDonald has an 8.9 percent pressure rate and only one tackle for loss, a Week 1 sack of Cam Ward. Offseason additions T’Vondre Sweat and Joseph Ossai still haven’t recorded a tackle for loss.
That’s what makes the defensive picture so frustrating for the Jets. The front seven is producing some disruption - New York’s 17 tackles for loss are in line with the league average of 17.7 - but it isn’t closing possessions the way a high-expectation unit should. Add in the penalties, and the result is a 1-3 start that feels messy in just about every phase.
Glenn’s offseason charm offensive had helped keep hope alive even after last year’s ugly finish. The Geno Smith trade and a well-regarded draft class made it easier to look past the fact that the Jets were outscored 188-54 over their final five games. The talking point was that things would be different in 2026.
Now, with the defense wobbling and the offense making some baffling choices of its own, Glenn may be losing the margin for error. The Jets probably won’t make a move in the immediate future; barring a total collapse before Thanksgiving, the team is not expected to fire him in the next few weeks. Robert Saleh’s October 2024 dismissal was the first midseason coaching change of the Woody Johnson era, which dates to 2000.
If New York does eventually go that route, offensive coordinator Frank Reich stands as the only coach on the staff with NFL head-coaching experience. Even so, the offense has been struggling enough that Reich’s own status is under the microscope heading into next Sunday’s game against the 3-1 Browns.
In Other News...
Tigers May Have Found A Draft Bat Fans Shouldn't Overlook
Scott Harris has taken his share of heat for the Tigers uneven season, but the one area where Detroit has earned more trust is the draft. The farm system has started to look deeper in part because of recent selections, and one of the names drawing attention is Will Adams, the 11th-round pick in the 2026 MLB draft. He arrived with a reputation that far outpaced his draft slot, which is part of why the pick has started to look like a possible steal.
Adams had long been viewed as more than a late-round flier, and he also gave Detroit something it does not always get in that range by choosing to sign rather than head to LSU. Baseball America has gone a step further, putting him among the better pure hitters in the class because of the way he combines bat-to-ball skill with power. For a Tigers organization still trying to build a sturdier talent pipeline, that kind of offensive profile is exactly the sort of upside that can make an overlooked pick turn into a real development story. [Read more 🡒]
Jace Jung Is Fueling A Tigers Debate Scott Harris Can't Ignore
The Tigers recent front-office philosophy under Scott Harris has leaned heavily toward keeping premium young talent in the organization rather than using it as trade currency, a approach that fits a club trying to build patiently through the system. Jace Jung, the 2022 first-round pick, has become the kind of case that makes that strategy harder to defend, because Detroit has been asking fans to wait on a prospect whose development has not yet matched the pedigree.
Jungs rocky path has turned him into more than just one players story. It has become part of a broader debate about whether Detroit should be more open to moving prospects when the fit is unclear, instead of treating top names as untouchable. For a team still trying to sort out its next competitive core, the question is whether holding on too long is really the safer play. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Offseason Should Start With One Clear Building Block
The Tigers were out of playoff contention long before the seasons final stretch, which has pushed the conversation in Detroit squarely toward what comes next. In that space, rookie Kevin McGonigle has already made a strong case to be part of the answer, giving the club useful production on both sides of the ball and a promising look at a young player who can matter beyond a single season.
McGonigles emergence puts a real shape to the offseason for a front office that has to decide whether to lean into its younger core or make bigger roster changes elsewhere. For a team that spent too much of the year looking up at the standings, the appeal of a clear building block is obvious, and the Tigers now have one player who makes that path easier to imagine even as the rest of the puzzle remains unfinished. [Read more 🡒]