Bears vs. Jets: Twitter Reaction and Full Post-Game Quotes

Unable to overcome a horrific start, the New York Jets dropped their second consecutive game, this time to the Chicago Bears by a score of 27-10. 

Rex Ryan's Jets have been prone to some awkward and embarrassing moments but few could top how this game started. Quarterback Geno Smith was intercepted on the first offensive snap of the game—a screen pass to Chris Johnson.

Minutes later, Jalen Saunders muffed a punt, Darrin Walls got called for a (questionable) pass interference call and the Jets were down by two scores before they had any time to digest what had happened. 

This game had the feel of several familiar prime-time disasters the Jets have been prone to under Ryan, but the Jets started to settle into the game and get things under control with a few consecutive defensive stops. As rough as Smith's start was, he never let the negativity get to his head and kept the Jets within striking distance.

The Jets may have lost the game, but they went down swinging on the defensive side of the ball. Ryan blitzed Cutler all night long: While the Bears did generate their fair share of plays (Alshon Jeffery finished with 105 yards), the fact that they were able to hold the Bears' offense to 20 offensive points with such a depleted secondary speaks volumes as to how effective the defensive game plan was. 

While Ryan and his defensive staff had an effective game plan, the same could not be said for offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, specifically when it came to how he rotated his running backs. Chris Johnson and Chris Ivory both saw 10 carries apiece, but Ivory averaged a full yard more per carry than Johnson (4.4 to 3.4).

"

Not only is Chris Ivory running better than Chris Johnson right now, Bilal Powell is too. #nyj

— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) September 23, 2014"

Meanwhile, Smith continued his consistently inconsistent performances. The box score scouting report suggests that this was one of his better games (316 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions), but he made a handful of mistakes that wound up being the difference in the game. 

Even on the final drive, he could have easily been intercepted by linebacker Jon Bostic. He was particularly poor in the red zone, throwing a costly interception and converting a touchdown just once out of six trips. 

In Smith's defense, he was hardly working with a star-studded cast of receivers. Eric Decker never returned to the game after making an early 19-yard reception. Drops by tight end Jace Amaro did the team no favors. Jeremy Kerley stepped up as the team's top pass-catcher in his eight-reception performance. 

Every losing team seems to have gripes with officiating, but Ryan has more than a few reasons to be irked with how a few calls went. Between a premature whistle on a fumble and a dubious pass interference call, officiating was the root cause of a 14-point swing that wound up being the difference in the game. 

The Jets did avoid a more serious, long-term disaster in regards to Muhammad Wilkerson, who left the game with a knee injury. According to Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports 1, the star defensive end's injury is not believed to be serious:

Regardless, this is a loss that has a much different feel than the game that got away from them last week against the Green Bay Packers, and not just because of the scoring patterns. The team is starting to repeat the same mistakes it has been making for several months now, particularly on offense. 

It is one thing to not be particularly prolific on one side of the ball—but the Jets are making some of the same mistakes on offense that have been problems for some time now, which warrants the question of whether or not they have enough firepower to make it through an NFL season in the long term. 

Al Bello/Getty Images

Even more evident is how thin the Jets are at the offensive skill positions. Kerley accounted for nearly all of the production derived from the passing game. The next-most productive receiver was Greg Salas, who did not catch a pass until the final drive of the game. 

Not only did Amaro have a pair of costly drops, but his counterpart, Jeff Cumberland, was nonexistent with just two catches for 18 yards. 

When the most productive player on the team is a slot receiver who catches almost four times as any other receiver, it is no wonder that the team struggled so much in the red zone. 

Falling to 1-2 is never a good sign for a team, but the Jets do have plenty of games left to right the ship. However, life does not get much easier with the Detroit Lions coming to town next week.

The Jets have enough time to turn their season around, but they need to make steadfast changes to their offensive approach to find more consistency—and hope that Decker can return to the field as soon as possible.