The Jets are not a good football team. But they have done a good job at keeping themselves in football games and avoiding total embarrassment in 2025. Before Sunday the Jets had gone more than two months since they last lost a game by more than two possessions – and had won five of their last eight games, a stretch that included the franchise altering trades of cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.

So if Sunday’s 34-10 beatdown at the hands of Miami felt like a big step in the wrong direction, it’s because it was. It doesn’t matter that the Jets were on their third string quarterback, and playing backups all over the field – they suffered their largest margin of defeat this season, on their home field, to a team they suffered an ugly loss to in September.

At one point before halftime the Jets were already being out-gained by more than 200 yards. And it just so happened to come in a game that eliminated them from the playoffs for the 15th straight season, guaranteeing another year saddled with the longest active postseason drought in the major four North American pro sports leagues.

It was so bad coach Aaron Glenn didn’t even attempt to pretend that it was anything other than what it was.

“This game was definitely disappointing,” Glenn said in his opening statement after the game. “Really hard to try to put this in words. The only thing that I can say, I didn’t have these guys ready to play and that was obvious by the way that we went out there and played. So, I have to take a look at myself, take a look at the staff, take a look at the players, and come back next week and get ourselves ready to play against a good team that’s playing well right now.”

Glenn didn’t make an excuse. He didn’t tell anyone to be patient. He pointed out what every fan who watched this game on TV or at MetLife Stadium, had seen. He said it was short of their standard and unacceptable. And he said they were going to have to do a lot of work before Sunday’s game at Jacksonville to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Not only was that unusual for a Jets head coach, it might have been the brightest moment of the day for this franchise.

Yes, it’s a low bar on a day the Jets did nothing right – other than the continuing spectacular play from the special teams unit. But it’s not insignificant.

Even when Glenn was asked follow-up questions. He stayed away from excuses and vague promises of hidden positives to be spotted by the coaches after they combed over the tape.

“Overall when we don’t play up to par, to me that’s the head coach,” Glenn said. “And I’ve got to figure out a way to get us to continue to play at a level that we’ve been playing, or exceed that level, as we go down the stretch. So, again, I have to look at exactly what I did during the week to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

So why does it matter what coach says after a blowout loss in November?

It gives us a window into what he’s telling his players. And what he’s telling the players is the truth in this league: it’s on the head coaches to put them in a position to succeed. And too often it has felt as if the coaches were more concerned with protecting their job, and taking less than full responsibility. And that kind of thing seeps into the locker room. So the fact that there’s no accountability spillage at the moment – or at least not to the extent where it’s seeping outside the building? That’s a very good thing. The Jets previous coaches, dating back to Todd Bowles, seemed to be most interested in making sure to get the word out there to be patient and this is going to take time

The other reason to be encouraged? The comments of any head coach after an ugly loss like this are a window into how they feel about their current standing and relationship with the owner. And for the Jets, we’ve far too often seen the volatility of owner Woody Johnson expressed through his coaches desperately explaining away horrific losses by explaining how they fit into the blueprint for the future and preaching patience.

The fact that Glenn didn’t do that, and shouldered the blame alone, is a sign that he’s on the same page as ownership and confident about it, and that gives him the best chance to do his job the right way.

That may seem a baby step to some – it’s the most basic need for any functional operation, organization,that should be expected, not given credit for. But it has been a long time since the Jets have shown any proof that they’re a functional organization – and that’s why Glenn’s honest assessment was a big step forward.

“This was a tough one,” Glenn said. “We have to eat it. We have to move on. And we have to try to improve next week. That’s the only thing that we can do, and that’s what we’ve been doing. No finger pointing in this one. Again, this is on me and I’ve got to get our guys better going into next week.”