ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Aaron Rodgers went to the bench after an interception, one that preceded the first unnecessary roughness penalty of his career. He sat down, then he laughed.
Record scratch. Freeze frame.
“You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.”
The ref laughs as he calls a personal foul on Aaron Rodgers for a late hit. pic.twitter.com/eJ1GDzPzD1
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) December 29, 2024
It’s Week 17 and the Jets lost again, a stinker of the highest order. Rodgers’ pick and late hit was one of many lowlights in a game that would get much, much worse from there. A 12-0 deficit turned into 19-0, then 26-0, then 33-0, then 40-0 — and then Rodgers, according to Rodgers, told interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich that it might be time for him to give way to backup Tyrod Taylor, who led the Jets on two scoring drives to close out the game. Final score: 40-14. The Jets’ record is 4-12, their season reaching a level of futility that seemed unfathomable when the year began. Imagine saying that Rodgers would play all 17 games — he’s expected to start again next week — and that the Jets would be sitting here on Dec. 29, on the verge of a full-scale teardown, wondering how it all went so wrong.
“I mean, it’s kind of like the season, it just got away from us,” Rodgers said, staring at the likelihood that next week’s season finale will be his last game in a Jets uniform — and possibly his last in the NFL. “Too many games got away from us. We were moving the ball and then we just hit a wall and that’s kind of been the season.”
So how did the Jets, and Rodgers, get here? Well, through a series of poor offseason decisions by general manager Joe Douglas, a rash of reactive decisions from owner Woody Johnson — namely firing Robert Saleh after Week 5 — and a team that by the end of the year has not appeared to care about much, other than getting to the finish line. Sunday’s effort might have been the worst of the season, from start to finish. It was a game in which the Jets were penalized 16 times for 120 yards, turned the ball over three times (twice on Rodgers interceptions, once on a lost Garrett Wilson fumble) and fell flat on their face, over and over again, in the same way they have most weeks since Ulbrich took over for Saleh.
“I was at peace with everything last week. It finally took me last week to be like: It is what it is,” cornerback D.J. Reed said. “But the frustration just creeped in. Even though we’ve got a bad record we’ve still gotta go out there and put stuff on tape that’s good. The fact that we’re not is very frustrating. Going out like that is unacceptable. It’s the NFL. Every game is supposed to be competitive. To be down 40-0, that s—‘s embarrassing, point blank, period.”
Added Wilson: “I always feel like we go out there, the vibe feels right, we’re ready to play. Then we get our ass kicked.”
Cornerback Sauce Gardner pointed out that the last Bills game — a 23-20 loss in Week 6 — was close. “So if you ask me, that means it’s the end of the season. Obviously we’re not going to playoffs. Some people might be checked out. That’s just me going off speculation … we can’t be playing as a team. We’re probably just individuals because last year and the year before we had a roster that wasn’t as talented as this roster, but we found ways to beat the Bills. What’s stopping that now?”
There are plenty of problems for the Jets to confront, and it will be on a new general manager and a new head coach to figure out how to fix them. But it’s undeniable that the Rodgers marriage has been an unmitigated disaster. In recent weeks, it’s as if the future Hall of Famer has been trolling Johnson, like he wants the Jets owner to release him at the end of the season. On Tuesday last week, Rodgers cracked a joke about the idea of Johnson’s teenage son Brick being the one to release him. The next day, Rodgers told reporters he believes there’s a nonzero chance he’s released promptly after the season — and he didn’t sound too upset at the prospect. Lately, Rodgers has seemed more concerned with throwing for his 500th career touchdown pass, and he’s desperately tried to make sure wide receiver Davante Adams, his longtime close friend, is the one to catch it. That’s impacted his already tenuous relationship with Wilson.
A few weeks ago, The Athletic reported that Wilson was unhappy with the direction of the Jets. On Sunday, an NFL Network report suggested that the disintegration of the Wilson-Rodgers relationship started during training camp when they got into a heated, animated discussion during a practice that made waves on social media (the two downplayed it afterward). It’s only gotten worse since Adams arrived via trade on Oct. 15. Now, per NFL Network, Wilson might not want to return to the Jets if Rodgers is still around.
If the Jets are choosing between Rodgers and Wilson, the correct choice is obvious: The 24-year-old star receiver, putting the finishing touches on his third straight 1,000-yard season, not the 41-year-old quarterback coming off one of his worst-ever games (12 of 18, 112 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions) and the circus that follows him.
Ulbrich didn’t have much to say about Rodgers’ performance on Sunday.
“I got to look at the tape, honestly,” Ulbrich said. “I didn’t get to see a whole lot of the offense.”
It’s not hard to figure out which of the Jets’ two veteran quarterbacks Wilson prefers. In last week’s loss to the Rams, Rodgers got the Jets into the red zone early in the fourth quarter and on fourth down forced a fade to Adams rather than targeting Wilson, who was open elsewhere (the pass was broken up). Wilson had only three targets in that game until late in the fourth quarter. After that game, Wilson was asked about his lack of involvement. His answer: “I’d like to be involved, love to make an impact on the game, but people see it differently.” It was a clear shot at Rodgers. A few days later, Rodgers said he and Wilson hadn’t spoken about the wide receiver’s frustration in weeks — and he didn’t seem particularly interested in delving into their relationship.
On Sunday, it took Rodgers exiting the game for Wilson to finally get targets in the red zone. Taylor looked Wilson’s way promptly after getting the offense into the red zone against Bills backups, and Wilson hauled it in for an impressive touchdown catch. It was Wilson’s first target in the red zone since Week 14. The Jets scored on Taylor’s next drive too. Taylor completed 11 of 14 passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
“We knew how it was going to go when he gets out there,” Wilson said of Taylor. “At the end of the day, we’re all pros. When you say that word, he’s someone that exemplifies that more than anyone. When he gets out there and gets his opportunity, he’s going to take advantage.”
If the assumption is that Rodgers won’t be returning to the Jets in 2025, as of now Taylor is the leading candidate to be their starting quarterback in 2025. The 35-year-old is under contract for another season, and he offers a different flavor than Rodgers with his mobility and willingness to take shots down the field, though he has been injury-prone throughout his career.
But if starting Taylor (or someone else) is what it takes to keep Wilson around, then that is what should happen. The Rodgers experiment failed. The Wilson experiment is still ongoing, and he at least sounds like someone who can see a future in which he’s still a Jet and things are better than they are now. There are a lot of factors to consider — Wilson is eligible for a contract extension for the first time this offseason, and the Jets still need to hire a head coach and GM — but he’s the sort of player to build around. Rodgers, at this point, is not.
“It’s frustrating,” Wilson said of the Jets’ season, “but it’s going to make those good times coming down the road that much more enjoyable because we went through things like this.”
(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / Getty Images)
