It has been unofficially over for a while, but it became official after the Week 14 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
For the No. 14 season in a row, the New York Jets have been eliminated from playoff contention. After the team’s 32-26 overtime loss to the Dolphins, Aaron Rodgers shared his take on the blunt reality of the Jets’ season.
“The expectations were high & we didn’t reach them. Not anywhere close. We felt good 3 weeks in,” Rodgers explained on Sunday, December 8. “Since then it’s been a lot of difficult games with opportunities to win. We just didn’t figure out how to win enough games & I didn’t play well enough in some crunch times. That’s why we are sitting here with the record we’ve got.”
The #Jets were officially eliminated from the playoffs for the 14th consecutive season.
Aaron Rodgers was asked for his thoughts considering all of the preseason hype for this team:
‘The expectations were high & we didn’t reach them. Not anywhere close. We felt good 3 weeks… pic.twitter.com/vktR6dvOAg
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) December 8, 2024
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The Jets Clinch the Most Disappointing Season in Team History
Before the season, ESPN personality Mike Greenberg joined me on my podcast.
During that conversation, he explained to me in vivid detail why he believed the Jets had a chance to win the Super Bowl. He wasn’t the only one who had high hopes.
With another month left to play in the regular season, the Jets won’t even have a ticket to the dance. From Super Bowl expectations to another playoff-less season.
There have been seasons in team history with fewer losses. What there hasn’t been is a team with that much talent underwhelming to a historic level like this.
When those sorts of things happen, heads tend to roll. Several already have before the campaign is even finished with Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas gone, but they won’t be the last ones to pay the iron price.
Rodgers Finally Ends Embarrassing Stat Drought
The Jets lost the game, but Rodgers accomplished something for the first time in over three years.
Rodgers threw for 339 passing yards against the Dolphins. He also completed 27-of-39 passes with a passing touchdown.
The last time Rodgers threw for 300+ passing yards was December 12, 2021. He was asked about that drought during his media availability throughout the week and you could tell Rodgers was bothered by it.
After the game, Rodgers was asked about his reaction to it. In the middle of the question, Rodgers did a sarcastic fist pump which caused laughter in the media room.
“Got that behind us, got that behind us,” Rodgers responded.
Rodgers aggressively pushed back at the narrative this week that he had something to prove through the finals stretch of the season. Despite his words, Rodgers played like he had something to prove against the Dolphins.
Ultimately the Jets still lost, but that defeat won’t be placed at the feet of Rodgers. Instead, that can go to a late special teams gaffe and some very lackluster defensive effort.
