EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Among a half-capacity crowd at MetLife Stadium, there was still a smattering of Jets fans seated for the last halftime whistle. Their fortitude was rewarded with a Justin Fields sack — after which, for a second straight week, Aaron Glenn opted to head to the locker room rather than attempt a Hail Mary — and a chance to boo the offense into the locker room. Some wore paper bags on their heads.
Most of those fans were still there when the Jets returned to the field after halftime. Fields took his seat on the bench, a towel draped over his head, while Tyrod Taylor warmed up with a teammate on the sideline. Fields stared blankly at the ground during a Carolina Panthers possession to open the second half. There were cheers when Taylor took the field for the Jets’ possession.
The majority of those fans were gone by the time Taylor threw his second interception, late in the fourth quarter. There were even fewer watching when the Jets got the ball back, still down seven points, and went nowhere, punting in hopes that the defense could force a three-and-out and give them one more shot.
The boos could have been booming when the clock hit zero, but there wasn’t enough of a crowd to make that kind of noise. The quiet — the mark of indifference — was deafening.
There’s not much left to boo about, to cheer about, or to care about for this tortured fan base. The Jets are 0-7 after a 13-6 loss to the Panthers on Sunday, and it would be hard for anyone to get fired up about a quarterback change when the season feels like it’s over before Halloween.
A week ago in London, Glenn answered questions about whether he’d consider benching Fields with a sneer. He seemed offended by the suggestion. Two quarters into the next game, he benched Fields anyway.
“We needed a spark,” Glenn said.
The Jets are losing, and they feel lost. They don’t have a quarterback for now, or one for later. Their quarterback of the future is playing on a college football team somewhere, maybe in Indiana, or Oregon, or South Carolina. Whoever he is, wherever he is, he should enjoy these last moments of prosperity and adulation while he still can. Soon, he’ll be given an impossible task: Jets savior. The weight of an organization mired in despair will fall on his throwing shoulder. He’s the only hope the Jets have, the only hope the Jets ever have: the next quarterback.
Mark Sanchez becomes Geno Smith becomes Sam Darnold becomes Zach Wilson becomes Aaron Rodgers becomes Justin Fields becomes whoever comes next. The thing is, the Jets’ last two decisions at quarterback made sense. Rodgers was the best quarterback they could get in 2023, joining forces with one of the NFL’s best defenses and a team that felt closer to contention talent-wise than the Jets have in a long time. It didn’t work, but nobody blamed them (or nobody should have) for aiming high.
Rodgers has played well for the Steelers in 2025, and say what you want about the way Glenn went about firing him, but that marriage was never going to work. That’s especially true as it appears the Jets’ talent deficit on offense was more significant than anyone, including Glenn, realized coming in. This was not a team built to win in 2025, Rodgers or not.
Fields was the right kind of lottery ticket, a 2021 first-round pick with tantalizing athleticism and arm strength. This has become the era of quarterback reclamation projects — Darnold and Baker Mayfield and Daniel Jones. Glenn had his eye on Fields from the minute he took the job, an interest fueled by their battles when Glenn was the defensive coordinator for the Lions, Fields the quarterback for the Bears. In explaining why Glenn felt Fields was the right fit, he often threw shade at the coaching staffs that had guided him in the past (the Steelers’ and the Bears’): “We’re going to let him play quarterback.”
It looked like the right choice in Week 1. Fields had the best game, by some statistics, of his career in a close loss to the Steelers. Then he had one of the worst in Week 2 against the Bills. He was even worse against the Broncos last week, when the Jets accumulated minus-10 net passing yards over an entire football game. By the time Fields was benched Sunday, he’d completed 6 of 12 passes for 46 yards.
In between the Bills and Broncos games, Fields missed one outing with a concussion, and any other production he mustered came mostly when games were already out of hand and defenses were taking their foot off the gas. By last week, Fields was afraid to throw the ball more than a few yards down the field, if at all. His knee was banged up after the Dolphins game Sept. 29, so he was barely running, either. Fields isn’t exactly built to be a pocket passer. It would be hard to say, at this point, that Fields is built to be an out-of-pocket passer, either.
The Jets want to be a running team — or, more accurately, a team that runs all the time. Everyone knows it, so opponents stack the box with defenders. The result: Running back Breece Hall has been rendered ineffective, particularly as the Jets struggle to find ways to make him part of their passing attack. On Sunday he rushed for 38 yards on 11 carries and was targeted only three times as a receiver, catching two for 14 yards.
“We just haven’t been playing our brand of football, haven’t been able to establish the run the last few weeks enough to sustain it and keep running the ball,” Hall said. “That starts with me as well. As much as I probably feel like younger me would want to whine and complain, I’m out there competing. I love my teammates enough to just keep going, just keep going, just keep going. It’s hard to pinpoint the problems — it sucks.”
The problems start at quarterback, though they certainly don’t end there. Fields, though, was the quarterback Glenn wanted, the one he’s defended against criticism, often passionately, since training camp. It got bad enough over the last two weeks that Glenn had no choice but to bench him at halftime Sunday.
Fields was asked if his benching was warranted.
“Warranted? Eh,” Fields said. “We all have our different opinions. … It’s not my decision. I’m here to be the best teammate I can be, the best person I can be. It’s not up to me. I wish things would’ve went differently not only for me but for this team.”
There is only one opinion to have. Fields is not the solution — though that doesn’t mean Taylor necessarily is. The Jets haven’t scored an offensive touchdown in back-to-back games as the defense stepped up and held the Broncos and Panthers to 13 points each week. Carolina finished with less than 200 passing yards, went 5 of 17 on third down and scored one touchdown. Glenn might have risked a mutiny if he didn’t try something, which meant relenting one week after he’d expressed indignation at the suggestion he make that move.
“It’s always a tough situation,” Glenn said. “It’s always a tough decision. But as the head coach, you have to take a look at it and look at the team and see what is best for you to put yourself in a position to win the game. And that’s the only thing that was going through my mind when I was walking in (at halftime). I told the offensive staff and then I went and I told told Justin and Tyrod exactly what I was going to do and made the decision.”
Glenn says he isn’t sure who will be the quarterback next week. It would be hard to go back to Fields at this point, though it’s not as if Taylor put forth an especially positive performance. He missed on a few deep balls that could’ve gone for long gains and threw two interceptions — one a remarkable play by cornerback Jaycee Horn on a deep pass to the end zone. Taylor made the mistake of testing Horn, a Pro Bowler, again in the fourth quarter, one-on-one with Josh Reynolds; Horn picked him off a second time. Taylor finished 10 of 22 for 126 yards and guided the Jets on one scoring drive, which ended with a 47-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
“Ultimately, I’ll make the call” for next week, Glenn said. “But there’s a lot of conversation I’ve got to have with myself to see what can I do to make sure that we give us a chance to win. … We’ll make the right decision. Whatever the decision is, I’m going to go with it and we’re going to move forward.”
When Glenn had the conversation with himself this offseason, he landed on Fields as his quarterback. It was the right idea, even if it didn’t work out. It’s not the only reason the Jets are 0-7 and hopeless. Far from it.
But the Jets tried swinging big for a quarterback again. They whiffed, again. So they’ll try again this offseason, armed with a high draft pick — maybe the No. 1 pick.
The Jets’ next quarterback is out there somewhere. He has no idea what he’s in for.