When the New York Jets headed to London for their Week 5 fixture against the Minnesota Vikings, they hoped to improve their season record to 3-2. Well, when that didn’t happen, the front office decided: enough is enough. “This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations,” Jets owner Woody Johnson wrote in a statement announcing head coach Robert Saleh’s firing.

At the time, the franchise was just one game out of first place in the AFC East. Now, five weeks after the Jets decided to “move in a different direction” and make defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich the interim head coach as well, the situation hasn’t gotten any better. Aaron Rodgers & Co. are (shockingly) still second in the AFC East, but instead of being just 1 win off the Bills (8-2), they’re 5 wins off after their 6-31 loss to the Cardinals.

Another week, another loss. That’s almost become the Jets’ mantra at the moment. After defeating the Texans last week, fans believed the Jets would finally pick up some momentum. But once again, history repeated itself. Was the Sunday Night Football loss the final straw? Has the team officially lost all hope of making it to the playoffs for the first time since 2010?

“In all honestly, the playoffs should be the last thing on our mind right now.” This is what Jeff Ulbrich had to say when asked about his team’s fading playoff chances. “We’ve just got to play better football.” In the Cardinals game, the Jets failed to score a touchdown. The worst part was that everything that needed to happen to ensure the Jets would be in a good position (if they won) happened. But they stumbled.

A win would’ve bumped them up to 8th in the AFC standings, just one spot shy of a playoff berth. They’re still 10th. What’s more? The Bengals, Colts, and Broncos all lost before the first kick in the Cardinals-Jets Sunday game. But as mentioned earlier, the Jets stumbled. Now, they have a meager 7% chance of making it to the Wild Card round.

Ulbrich has all but written off a playoff appearance this season, but if the Jets are still inclined to make it, the next game will be one of their most important fixtures. They’ll be taking on the Colts: if they win, Aaron Rodgers & Co.’s playoff chances will improve to 10%. But if they lose, it’ll drop to 1%. But it looks like many players are in the same boat as their head coach, wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams being two of them.

Addressing the team’s “energy,” Wilson said, “You go out and play like that, you know it’s gonna be tough to find that energy. I don’t think we went into this with the wrong mentality, nor did we go about our meetings and our practices this week in the wrong way. It’s just that at the end of the day, it’s about Sundays. I say that all the time… The energy’s not there because we’re playing like trash.” As for Adams, he wasn’t too positive, either.

Per SNY TV’s Jets reporter Connor Hughes, Davante Adams said that “the Jets lacked ‘energy’ against the Cardinals.” The wide receiver also added, “I don’t think we had the energy that we’ve had the last two weeks… It’s not our standard of football; that’s not my standard of football.” When Hughes asked him why that was happening, considering how small the margin of error is to make the playoffs, Adams replied, “I don’t know.”

This lack of accountability didn’t go down too well with the Jets’ faithful, especially after the hopes and expectations Adams and Aaron Rodgers set when the New York-based franchise traded for him last month. When discussing the trade on the Pat McAfee Show, the quarterback said, “Obviously, I’m really excited. He’s a phenomenal player and a dear friend.” They were teammates for eight seasons in the Packers, and their partnership was quite fruitful.

Their combination was responsible for 622 receptions, 7,590 yards, and 69 touchdowns. “Should be able to pick up where we left off. That’s the idea,” Davante Adams said. However, that hasn’t quite materialized. The comprehensive loss to the Cardinals in Week 10 was further proof that the Jets need to focus on the smaller picture first before they even aim for the bigger picture (the playoffs).

The team and its members are clearly losing hope, but wait! Aaron Rodgers isn’t that stressed. Wait, what?

Aaron Rodgers is looking forward to Bye Week… and some changes after that

During a post-game presser, when a reporter asked Aaron Rodgers what’s next for the Jets, the quarterback responded, “I thought after a big win Thursday night, we were going to come out with a lot of energy and win the game. We just didn’t… Offensively, you’re not going to beat anybody scoring six points… We’ve just got to focus on what’s in front of us and beat the Colts and then get to the bye and sort some things out.” Well, Rodgers is still finding ways to sort things out. Hmmm, but now it seems only a miracle could save them in this season.

Apart from that, in the Cardinals game, Aaron Rodgers was taken to the blue medical tent in the third quarter for a mandatory head injury checkup. However, he returned to the field only to see his team record yet another loss. But it wasn’t like he could’ve expected anything more, especially after the Cardinals’ offense dominated the Jets in the first half.

The Cardinals walked onto the field ready to make it four straight wins… and they didn’t disappoint. Facing the Jets’ top-tier defense, they played with pure confidence. By halftime, the scoreboard showed a powerful 24-6, with Arizona in full control. The Jets came in strong on paper, holding teams to just 290.8 yards and barely over 20 points a game.

But the Cardinals tore through them, racking up 239 yards and scoring on every single drive. Even the Jets’ defense couldn’t slow them down, not that their performance was anything to write home about. They missed 20 (!) tackles and gave up touchdown drives of 70, 70, 70, and 83 yards, eventually losing 6-31. Mathematically, there’s still a possibility to make the playoffs. But will it happen? That’s unlikely.