The Jets dropped their fourth straight game on Thursday night, a 19-3 loss to the Jaguars, and now their playoff hopes are on life support. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:

1. The best the Jets can finish now is 9-8. I think most Jets fans would have been happy with that record back in August. But things changed drastically with the way this team started the season, and when they were at 5-2 or 6-3 or 7-4, you were dreaming of a playoff run.

Now?

It feels like the Jets wasted a shot. You can say that the Jets’ future looks bright with the young stars that they have added, but you never know what is going to happen. When the Jets went 10-6 in 2015 and missed the playoffs, it felt like they could make a run the following year. Instead, the team fell apart and has not contended again until this year.

When the Jets went 7-9 in 2019 and had a strong finish to the year, it felt like something to build on. Instead they went 2-14 the following season.

You never know.

The Jets needed to cash in on this chance. The Jets had some things go their way in the first half of the season. They faced some backup quarterbacks. The ball bounced their way a few times. They took advantage of those and set themselves up for a strong finish to the season. Instead, they have now lost four in a row and five of their last six. 

The Jets still could sneak into the playoffs, but they need a lot of help now. If they fall short for the 12^th straight season, Robert Saleh and Joe Douglas will look back at blown opportunities against the Patriots, Vikings, Bills, Lions and Jaguars and think about what might have been. 

2. Zach Wilson looks broken. On the field, he looks like he is afraid to make a mistake, can’t process quickly and is late on his throws. After the game, Wilson looked and sounded different in his postgame press conference. He sounded like a player who has lost his confidence and was shell-shocked after getting booed off the field by the MetLife crowd. 

To me, Wilson should be put on ice for the rest of the season regardless of Mike White’s status. Play Joe Flacco if White is not healthy. Wilson needs to get away from football. When the season ends, he should go to an island (hopefully with no Jets fans around) with his girlfriend and forget about football for a while. He needs to decompress and then start working on football again in February. 

I’m not sure if Wilson can be fixed. It feels like it won’t happen here. It has become a toxic situation with Wilson and the fans. I think Wilson has lost his confidence and the team has lost its confidence in him. 

3. One of the things I love about covering football is the unknowns of a season. You walk into training camp at the end of July with expectations for the season. You think you know who will play where and you try to project how things will go. Then the season starts, and crazy things happen.

Chris Streveler replacing Wilson in the third quarter of a do-or-die game in December is an all-timer. The Jets signed Streveler in August as a camp arm. He was a guy to take some reps at the end of preseason games so Flacco or White would not have to do it. He then strung together a great run in the preseason, but against inferior competition. I did not expect to see him again once the preseason ended.

But there he was on Thursday night, and he gave the team a spark. Playing the Streveler style is unsustainable, but it was a fun drive to watch on Thursday night and clearly the Jaguars were not ready to defend him. It was a fun twist to the Jets season. 

4. If you’re searching for a turning point in the Jets season, look back to the second quarter in Denver when Breece Hall and Alijah Vera-Tucker suffered season-ending injuries. The offense has not been the same since. The line truly misses Vera-Tucker, and Hall was a home run hitter for the Jets, something they don’t have now. Hall had huge plays in wins over the Dolphins, Packers and Broncos. He is a guy who can turn a 5-yard carry into a 60-yard touchdown. The Jets don’t have anyone else as explosive as him, and the offense is suffering without him and Vera-Tucker. 

Jets running backs had 11 yards rushing on Thursday night. Chris Streveler was the leading rusher with 54 yards. That is crazy.

Streveler had 31 snaps and Wilson had 29. Who saw that coming?

There were not many good performances in the game, but I thought Solomon Thomas played well. He had two quarterback hits and a tackle for a loss. Thomas has been a nice depth player on the defensive line.