The New York Jets got battered, beaten, and bruised during their Week 4 loss to the Chicago Bears. Gang Green lost 23-12 in the Windy City.
After the game, head coach Aaron Glenn explained why this embarassing loss boiled down to one key reason.
“Very, very disappointing. Very disappointing on a number of levels. This was basically just not playing complimentary football at its best,” Glenn said on Sunday, October 4. “Man, the penalties, which negated a couple of turnovers that we had was tough. That’s tough to live with, and for your defense to have damn near 90 plays, I think the offense had 32 plays; right there, it’s tough to get something going in that situation … We have to do a better job of complementing each other, and that did not show up today.”
Not much did, quite frankly. The final score doesn’t truly indicate how badly the Jets got smacked around.
Demoralizing Loss for the Jets
The Jets are now 1-3. Through the first three weeks of the season, the Jets either won the game, or blew a lead, or lost after a valiant effort. That wasn’t the case in Week 4. The Jets got their teeth kicked down their throats in every way imaginable.
Tyson Bagent, a backup quarterback, set a new career high with 268 passing yards. He was only sacked once, and the Jets’ entire defense finished the game with just two quarterback hits.
Chicago ran the ball 54 times in Week 4. They finished with 232 rushing yards, averaged 4.3 yards per carry, and scored two rushing touchdowns.
The Bears’ defense sacked Geno Smith three times and hit him seven times.
Chicago dominated the game. The Bears finished with 34 first downs, and the Jets only had seven. Gang Green didn’t convert on a third down (0-for-7), and the Bears converted on 47% of their attempts (7-of-15). The Bears finished with 492 total net offensive yards, and the Jets only had 157 total net yards.
157 total net yards isn’t a lot, but it looks even worse when you consider 58 of those yards came on one play in the fourth quarter on a bomb touchdown from Smith to Isaiah Williams.
The Bears ran 89 offensive plays to the Jets’ 32 offensive plays. Chicago had 232 rushing yards as a team, and the Jets only had 59 rushing yards.
Give credit where credit is due; the Jets won the turnover battle, +2. That didn’t change the final result, but it did prevent the Jets from losing by more points.
Response Will Define Season
That was a beatdown. How will the Jets respond? The answer to that question could very well define their season.
This is the first blowout loss of the 2026 season for the Jets. Up next is a home date with the 3-1 Cleveland Browns, who appear to be a lot spunkier than anyone gave credit to before the season.
Jets are 1-3 and there’s still plenty of time left in the season, but if they don’t get their act together soon this season could spiral out of control.
Aaron Glenn Reveals Top Reason for Embarrassing Jets Loss to Bears