Another tough lose that the Jets should've won as they fall to the Chicago Bears by a score of 24-10, in a game where nobody stepped up for this team when their starters were hurt. Starting with the offense, Robby Anderson (ankle), Quincy Enunwa (ankle), and Bilal Powell (neck) did not play today in addition to that the Jets had to rely on their young receivers and running backs, but when you're playing a talented defense like the Chicago Bears chances are you aren't going to be able to do much. Aside from that however, it looked like things picked things up where they left off at the University of Southern California as Sam Darnold and Deontay Burnett seem to have good chemistry as he was able to catch 4 passes for 61 yards. But one pass in particular in the 4th quarter where Burnett ran a go route and Darnold put the ball where only he can catch it, that would set up a Herndon touchdown pass from Darnold. I think that Herndon is getting better as the week progresses and I'm looking forward to see more from both Burnett and Darnold. Speaking of Darnold, he finished the day completing 14 passes out of 29 attempts for 153 yards and a touchdown, he didn't look sharp but the receivers couldn't get open; however he didn't turn the ball over and avoided some sacks by throwing the ball away. The run game wasn't effective either as Crowell only ran it for 20 yards.
I thought the defense on the other hand was fairly decent but the biggest flaw still remains to be the lack of pass rush. Todd Bowles had to blitz on almost every down, allowing the bears to use more quick routes and screens to beat it and there were a lot of missed tackles. Another bad turn of event was the 8 pre snap penalties the Jets had throughout the entire game, in which you simply cannot do that. This team has to be more disciplined on both sides of the ball, I understand this is a young team but this is where the coaching staff needs to teach them to meet those standards.
Todd Bowles mentioned during his post game press conference that he was proud of his team for the way they fought and kept playing hard but it doesn't help the fact that the penalties, lack of talent at receiver and pass rush, and the lack of development will prevent this team from achieving the goal that they have set.
The Jets have two division games within the next two weeks as they take on the Miami Dolphins at Hard rock café stadium, then come back home to take on the Buffalo Bills. Hopefully they can make some trades before the deadline tomorrow to help with the roster.