CHAMPAIGN – They are all but dead now, in need of a miracle they do not deserve.
They gave New York one of their patented late-season choke jobs yesterday.
They keep telling us they are different, but in the end, at the end, they are nothing more than the Same Old Jets. The Same Old Maddening Jets.
You cannot lose to a sad-sack, 3-10 team and beg for sympathy from anyone.
Point the finger at the head coach and the quarterback for Bears 20, Jets 13.
Don’t blame Wayne Chrebet for trying to hurdle Larry Whigham at the Bears 15 and fumbling away the season with 1:10 left.
“I take it all on me,” Chrebet said. It isn’t all on him. It never should have come to that.
Blame Herm Edwards for not getting his team together, for not channeling its aggressiveness in the right direction at the end of a turmoil-filled week, and blame Chad Pennington for not getting his team in the end zone.
The 7-7 Jets came out totally devoid of fire, on both sides of the ball, and that is inexcusable in a high-stakes game like this, and that’s on the head coach. Boxers sometimes leave their fight in the gym. Apparently the Jets left their fight on the practice field.
Twelve men on the field in the nickel defense in the fourth quarter to keep alive a Bears field-goal drive?
“There was some communication breakdown on that,” Edwards said. Inexcusable, and that’s on the head coach.
Seven penalties in all, including a Kelvin Moses holding during Chad Morton’s 97-yard kickoff return to open the second half, ineligible man downfield against Kevin Mawae that nullified a 16-yard gain and first-and-goal at the 6 late in the third quarter, and a boneheaded roughing the passer against Jason Ferguson that set up the touchdown that made it 17-7 minutes earlier. That’s on the head coach.
“You can’t do it; you can’t dump the quarterback,” Edwards said.
How do you explain a performance like this? On the west scoreboard, there was a picture of George Halas beneath the word TRADITION. There was a picture of Dick Butkus beneath the word PRIDE. There was as picture of Red Grange beneath the word LOYALTY. There was a picture of J.C. Caroline beneath the word EXCELLENCE.
You would have thought Papa Bear was on the sidelines coaching and the Monster of the Midway and those Galloping Ghosts were on the field playing.
Only the Jets could let a journeyman like Chris Chandler (23-28, 177 yards) nickel-and-dime them, and only the Jets can fail to take advantage of one rookie cornerback from Tuskegee and another from Hampton, of all places. Only the Jets could miss enough tackles to turn Leon Johnson and Adrian Peterson into Thunder and Lightning.
“I don’t know why we couldn’t get up for this game, I really don’t,’ Ferguson said. “We were just going through the motions.”
Pennington (22-33, 207 yards, TD) picked the worst possible time for his worst performance of the season. He was uncharacteristically inaccurate. When the circumstances begged for a big play from him, he did not deliver.
He stood up for Chrebet, because he is stand-up all the way.
“That play didn’t cost us the game,” Pennington said. “There were numerous plays that I could have made to give us momentum to give us a spark. Bottom line is, I have to make some throws to turn those field goals into touchdowns, and I didn’t do that.”
His biggest faux pas came early in the second quarter when, fourth-and-1 at the Bear 37, he fumbled the center snap. The Bears broke the ice minutes later. Then right before the half he missed Santana Moss on a third-and-4 sideline throw from the Bear 45. In the fourth quarter, his third-and-6 pass underneath for Chrebet from the Bear 10 was swatted away by Williams, and the Jets settled for a field goal rather than tying touchdown.
This franchise always steps into Bear traps, no matter where and when they are.
Everyone pooh-poohed the Monday night limo incident and the ugly Thursday brawl.
“I don’t know what the reason was for our emotional state today,” Pennington said. “No excuses, no explanation.”
Almost certainly no playoffs.
