As one of the most sought-after head coaching candidates in the NFL, Aaron Glenn interviewed with several teams last season. But, by his own admission, he only wanted one.
The New York Jets.
Glenn, a former Jet before a successful coaching career, promised changes during his introduction as New York’s coach in January.
“Put on your seat belts,” he said, “and get ready for the ride.”
Ten months later, the trajectory of that journey has been downward.
And Sunday’s loss in Week 7 brought the Jets closer to the misery the franchise hoped Glenn’s appointment would make a thing of the past.
In a 13-6 loss to Carolina that dropped the Jets to 0-7, including 0-5 at home, New York benched quarterback Justin Fields, who had paid a guaranteed $30 million to sign as a free agent just last spring.
It’s just the third time in the Jets’ 65-year history, joining 1996 and 2020, that they’ve started an 0-7 season, and Glenn is the franchise’s first coach to lose his first seven games.
The Jets, the only winless team in the NFL, continued multiple troubling trends that have contributed to their winless season: uneven quarterback play, a porous offensive line and an inability to force turnovers on defense.
“We’ve got to be able to pull through these low-scoring games,” Glenn said Sunday. “The thing is, our guys are fighting. There’s no way to give up.”
The Jets, who own the NFL’s third-worst winning percentage (.350) since they last made the playoffs in 2010, are accustomed to surprising results. They entered last season with Super Bowl ambitions with quarterback Aaron Rodgers healthy, only to fire their coach and top football executive en route to a 5-12 record. At the end of the season, The Athletic reported that owner Woody Johnson’s teenage sons influenced some roster decisions and that a trade had been rejected because the owner felt a player’s rating in the “Madden” video game was not high enough. (A Jets spokesman at the time said the sons’ opinions were “used as a reference point.”)
This season was meant to be a new era. Following criticism in 2024, Johnson reportedly relinquished some control over the team’s decisions, and the team’s new management released Rodgers and signed Fields, a former high first-round pick. Then in Week 1, they had to watch Rodgers brag after outscoring Fields to beat his former team.
New York didn’t sign Fields, expecting a quarterback known more for his mobility than his passing ability to dramatically change his game. However, by week 6, things had gone the other way. Fields threw for just 45 yards and New York finished with the franchise’s worst passing net minus 10 yards.
Entering Sunday, the Jets had the NFL’s third-worst offense and the 20th-ranked defense. Still, the matchup against the Panthers seemed to offer one of New York’s best chances this season for its first victory. Although Carolina had won two straight games, it was nothing formidable, as it was outscored overall during the season. The Panthers defense ranked 21st in points allowed.
However, the Jets’ offense was again impotent. He produced just 12 first downs in 11 drives and failed to score a touchdown in the first half for the sixth straight game, the first time the franchise has done so since 2000. With the ball near midfield in the final minute before halftime, the Jets didn’t even attempt a Hail Mary, and the first half ended in a sack.
Trailing 13-3 in the third quarter, the Jets benched Fields, which Glenn, who had previously supported Fields, said was his decision. Fields’ backup, Tyrod Taylor, threw two interceptions.
Fields said he was “a little” surprised but “can’t be mad about the decision,” he told reporters. “I understand why.”
Even when Carolina lost its starting quarterback, Bryce Young, to an ankle injury late in the third quarter and he never scored again, the Jets still couldn’t take advantage. Particularly telling has been New York’s defensive inability to force turnovers; he has produced just one, the fewest in the NFL, in seven games. Glenn’s defense in Detroit last season finished in the top third in takeover creation.
“Obviously, wins cure a lot of things in this league,” said Taylor, Fields’ successor. “And we haven’t had a chance to put one of those together.
“The message has to be the same, the work still needs to be done all week, and going out and executing at a high level, one play at a time, is what we need on game day. Not in spurts, not a quarter, not a half, but four full quarters.”
