CHAMPAIGN – Shame on the Jets.
Herman Edwards warned them over and over and over again for a week about how dangerous the 3-10 Bears would be and yet they still fell hard for the trap, losing to a going-nowhere Chicago team, 20-13, yesterday at the University of Illinois Memorial Stadium.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Edwards said. “We had a chance to really take care of our own business and we didn’t get it done.”
The Jets are now 7-7 and two games out of first place in the AFC East with two to play and they’re a long shot to make the playoffs.
A New England victory over Tennessee tonight would eliminate the Jets from winning the AFC East even if they win their final two games.
The Jets, with the world to play for, were listless yesterday, which is as damning as you can get, particularly considering Edwards’ warnings and considering the Jets’ 1-4 and 2-5 starts to this season.
“We had too much at stake to come out in the first half as flat as we were,” Jets’ NT Jason Ferguson said. “You really can’t explain it. I don’t know why we weren’t up for it. I don’t know why we couldn’t get up for this game.
“We weren’t aggressive. We weren’t excited about a lot of things. We were going through the motions. That’s what it seemed like.”
That’s what it looked like as the Jets staggered to a 10-0 halftime deficit.
“Considering what was at stake, we should have come out in a blaze of fire,” Jets’ DT Josh Evans said. “Everyone was looking at each other to try to get it going, but we waited too late. It’s amazing. How could we do that? I don’t understand.”
Jets’ LB Mo Lewis, who spent much of the game screaming at his teammates in an effort to wake them up, conceded that the Jets didn’t take the Bears seriously and wondered aloud about a “bug in our system” regarding beating teams they should beat with the playoffs on the line.
Yesterday was eerily-reminiscent of the Jets’ home loss to 2-12 Buffalo last year with a playoff berth on the line and their home loss to Detroit in 2000 in a game that, if won, would have advanced them to the postseason.
“For some reason we were flat,” Lewis said. “We did not play with any emotion and there was no sense of urgency out there. For some strange reason we just didn’t come out here and take these guys seriously.”
The Jets’ chances to win the game – and probably their playoff hopes – ironically ended on a play which was as effort-rich and passionate as any they executed all day.
With the Jets trying to mane a frantic comeback in the closing moments, Chad Pennington (22-of-33, 207 yards, 1 TD) connected with Wayne Chrebet on a 22-yard catch-and-run. Chrebet got to the Chicago 14-yard line with 1:10 remaining in the game.
He fumbled the ball, however, while trying to be Superman and hurdle three Chicago defenders. CB Roosevelt Williams recovered the ball with 1:10 remaining and the Jets’ miserable day was over.
“My instincts took over,” Chrebet said. “I tried to make a play and it’s my fault we didn’t have a chance to tie the game up. It just stinks all around. I feel horrible.”
Chrebet hardly lost the game for the Jets. There were far too many other culprits:
Ferguson was called for a roughing-the-passer penalty in the third quarter that kept a Bears’ drive alive and allowed them to take a 17-7 lead on a TD run by former Jet RB Leon Johnson. Instead of a third-and-seven from the Jets’ 40, the Bears got a first down on the 25 and scored two plays later.
A short time later, Jets’ C Kevin Mawae was called for an ineligible-man-downfield penalty, nullifying a 16-yard Curtis Martin run to the Chicago six-yard line. Instead, that gave the Jets a third-and-15 they failed to execute and it forced them to settle for a 42-yard John Hall FG to cut the lead to 17-10.
Later still, SS Sam Garnes, thinking the team was in a dime formation (six DBs), failed to get off the field on a Bears’ third-down play that the Jets stopped and the Jets were called for 12 men on the field. The Jets were in a nickel (five DBs), meaning Garnes was supposed to run to the sideline.
That gave the Bears a first down and kept the drive alive long enough to burn more than two more minutes from the clock and it got Chicago close enough for a 48-yard Paul Edinger FG for the 20-13 Bears’ lead.
