For the second time in as many seasons, Mike White is the toast of New York. A year ago, to have this happen again would have been a horrifying prospect. Coming into this season, Zach Wilson was supposed to be the quarterback of the Jets’ present and future, and to have there be a question as to whether he is the team’s best option to succeed would’ve been to question the direction of the entire franchise.
But after a rain-soaked 31–10 victory over the Bears, just a few days removed from Wilson’s temporary benching, perhaps we are ready to see the absurdity in all of this. It’s hard to imagine many people are left clamoring for Wilson to go back into games, anyway. It’s hard to imagine any Jets fans wishing for overall organizational health (i.e., a steadily progressing star on a rookie deal) instead of a shot at coming away with a concrete accomplishment from their breakout season.
Through the early-games window Sunday, the now 7–4 Jets had a 53% chance of ending the longest playoff drought in the NFL, according to FiveThirtyEight. White, who went 22-for-28 for 315 yards and three touchdowns, gives them the best chance to do so right now. Even in a torrential downpour, the team’s star wide receivers were happier than they’ve been in weeks. Elijah Moore (two catches, 64 yards, TD) emerged from a dark corner of Wilson’s peripheral vision. If there is only one perceived malcontent on the roster, that’s a sign of a football team moving in the right direction.
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When Robert Saleh announced the decision earlier this week, he couched it as a learning period for Wilson and envisioned a near future in which Wilson would play again this season. The messaging was precise and careful, because that’s how one must discuss the prospects of a person you drafted No. 2 a mere 19 months ago. One NFL coach once told me that the second you draft a player in the first round, the clock starts. You are synonymous with him, for better or worse.
Hopefully, the Jets, who have tried so desperately and so frequently to find a franchise quarterback for decades now, see the flaw in this line of thinking. One person playing badly shouldn’t undermine other indicators of organizational strength. The Rex Ryan–era teams that went to a pair of AFC championship games were brilliant because of a great defense and an even better offensive line. Were they ultimately failures because Mark Sanchez never progressed into a yearslong answer at the position, or is what they accomplished even more impressive when considering those teams’ weaknesses?
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Similarly, this franchise took a massive swing at the quarterback position but continued pumping resources into every other corner of the roster. As it currently stands in the NFL, there are roughly 10 entrenched “franchise” quarterbacks who are immovable due to a combination of their contracts and play. The Jets are surviving and, in brief windows during their victory at home Sunday, thriving, despite the absence of one.
Fostering a backup quarterback who can outplay the starter is not ideal, but is still indicative of good coaching and preparation. Designing an offense that works for a fifth-round pick out of Western Kentucky and not for a first-round pick out of BYU still means there are good plays being called. This is the Jets’ situation right now, and they have chosen to embrace it.
This year’s team is so enjoyable because it is uniquely Jets-y. A fatal flaw in recent regimes in New York has been to try to look a certain way; there was a constant desire to compare or to beat down some kind of inferiority complex.
Wilson’s decline and White’s reemergence could have been a classic moment for us to laugh at, and perhaps we might have a few years ago. If Sam Darnold had floundered and the Jets had been momentarily resuscitated at the hands of Joe Flacco, we might have perceived it as another chapter in the book of how not to operate an NFL franchise.
Now, though, it makes sense to be on board with White. It makes sense because the benching made sense. Because the process that led to the benching made sense. Because everything else seems to be working. And when everything else is working, it’s easier for us to excuse—and even applaud—winning the way the Jets are winning, which is, admirably, by any means possible.
