Another week where the Jets needed to show they had some fuel left in the tank, another game where they showed they're flying on empty.
It was another performance where the Jets looked completely overmatched, which is particularly telling due to the talent on the team. It almost looked like the Jets quit on the field Monday night during their 41-10 loss against the Colts, which is completely unacceptable for a professional franchise.
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Discipline has been an issue, with three personal fouls coming in the first two quarters of the game: two on late hits out of bounds, and one for unnecessary roughness after the whistle.
Asking Ryan Fitzpatrick, a journeyman who has never produced back-to-back good seasons as an NFL QB, to replicate the success he had last year was a near-impossible request. As bad as Fitzpatrick has been, he's only been a fraction of everything that's wrong with the Jets.
And yet, it took another Fitzpatrick interception in the first half of Monday night's debacle and a 24-3 Colts lead to lead to Fitzpatrick's benching. It took 13 1/2 weeks and 14 interceptions for the coaching staff to realize, "Hey, maybe Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't helping us get to the playoffs."
Bryce Petty took over in the second half, which could be argued as a long overdue move for the coaching staff to make. Fitzpatrick (and his notably weak arm) hasn't been able to take full advantage of the deep receiving corps the Jets have established this season, even minus an injured Eric Decker.
Petty missed burner Robby Anderson on a deep throw in his first series in the second half, which is something the Jets — and their fans — probably aren't used to seeing. He connected with Anderson in the fourth quarter on a 40-yard strike.
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Petty didn't shine and certainly didn't seize the job, throwing two interceptions, one late in the third that set up another easy Colts touchdown and one that sealed the victory for Indianapolis.
And after all of this, it circles back to one key issue: coaching.
It's a coaching staff that played Sheldon Richardson as an outside linebacker often throughout the season, when he's as true and through a hand-in-the-ground defensive end as the team has. It's about the Jets' once-daunting secondary allowing huge pass play after huge pass play.
It's about the Oct. 9 matchup vs. the Steelers, when head coach Todd Bowles demonstrated a signature trait of Jets coaching with an apparent lack of time awareness and management skills, and decided to punt the ball with 7:46 left in the game instead of going for it on fourth down. The Jets would go on to lose 31-13.
It's a coaching staff that still can't figure out how to cover a tight end — an issue that has haunted it since the dawn of the Rex Ryan era. Dwayne Allen caught three touchdown passes in the first half Monday. The Jets haven't had a touchdown catch from a tight end in the past two seasons combined.
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This latest drubbing is truly the icing on the cake for a team that has vastly underachieved this season. The sign of another year of Jets futility came in the first game of the season, a one-point loss to the Bengals. It was perhaps the Jets' best defensive showing of the season, when they sacked QB Andy Dalton six times, forced a turnover and lost the game on just a handful of plays.
At the end of the day, players have to execute and coaches have to keep those players prepared to do so. Now that the Jets are eliminated from playoff contention, it's time to see how, if possible, Bowles and Co. can keep the Jets playing harder than they've showed.
Well-coached teams find ways to win. Poorly coached teams do just the opposite. The Jets have landed in the latter category far too often.
