Rex Ryan Era Ending with a Whimper After Jets' Latest Prime-Time Loss

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan stood in front of the media, his eyes bleary when they weren't hidden underneath the brim of his baseball hat. He tried in vain to find the words to explain the team's troubles.

His tenure started with a bang, and it's ending with a whimper.

Early on, Ryan was noted for his brash, bold, confident approach to the game and with the media that cover it. Over the past two weeks, and particularly in the Jets' 16-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, that bravado has been completely absent. In what could be the final prime-time stand of the Ryan era, it appears he will go gently into that goodnight.

"Man, damn. I can't believe we're 2-10," he said in his postgame press conference. "It's a joke."

There was no rallying cry looking forward to the final month of the season. There was only disbelief looking back on the disastrous three months that preceded it.

"

I don't want to remember this version of Rex. Even if you hated the Jets, Loud Rex was a lot of fun.

— Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) December 2, 2014"

Make no mistake; the Jets are trying everything they can to win. The players continue to play hard for him, whether they're losing by seven points or fewer (as they've done four times) or 14 points or more (as they have five times).

The coaches continue to do the best with what they have, which is an offense that lacks a quarterback and a defense that lacks talented cover men in the secondary.

Player	Comp. %	YPA	Rating
Geno Smith	57.4	5.9	65.8
Michael Vick	52.9	5.0	68.3
Matt Simms	37.5	4.9	53.6

The 2014 Jets looked like the 2009 Jets on Monday, running the ball a combined 49 times for 277 yards and 5.7 yards per attempt. Their offense has been dreadful this year, but the ground game was about the only thing that was working. 

Ryan named Geno Smith his starting quarterback for this week, but if his total of 13 pass attempts is any indication, he may prefer to roll without a quarterback in the future.

For how futile the passing game has looked this season, and for how dominant the running game looked on Monday night, their utter abandonment of the pass was forgivable—though maybe not on 3rd-and-10 in the fourth quarter. 

The defense generated sporadic pressure on Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, sacking him two times and holding him to a 77.7 passer rating. The Dolphins only gained 5.9 yards per pass, which was merely two-tenths of a yard more than what the Jets gained per rush.

The Jets didn't get any help from a pair of dropped interceptions by cornerback Darrin Walls and linebacker Calvin Pace. Gift-wrapped turnovers are game-changing plays, but that works the opposite way when the defense can't capitalize on the opportunities.

"I feel sick," said Ryan. "We can't buy a win."

If buying victories is off the table, he'll have to find some other means to get wins in each of the final four games of the season if he wants to keep his job. That seems to be about his only hope for saving his job, and even that would be a stretch. If nothing else, the final quarter of the season could serve as an audition for his next gig.

Where he goes from here is a huge question mark, but his résumé is not sterling.

He may not have to go straight to television; there will most likely be a team looking for a head coach, and Ryan is a known defensive mastermind with a reputation for getting his players to play hard for him. The Oakland Raiders, Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons could be among the teams looking for head coaches.

Where the Jets go from here is just as good of a question.

Owner Woody Johnson must first decide whether to keep general manager John Idzik, and if he does, the Jets must let him build the team fully in his image. Idzik was saddled with Ryan to start his tenure as GM of the Jets, and while the cupboards were not stocked with talent when he arrived, his fingerprints are all over the roster at this point. 

He swung and missed at the quarterback position—which may have doomed both him and Ryan. He didn't even swing at the defensive back position—which certainly didn't help Ryan execute his scheme, one that relies on talent in the secondary.

If Idzik is brought back—which is debatable—he should be on the hot seat. The problem with that is, what head coaching candidate is going to want to walk into what could potentially be a one-year tryout?

Ryan's time in New York may be ending with a whimper, but depending on how they handle it, the Jets' situation has the potential to be noisy for a long time to come.

Unless otherwise noted, quotes obtained via team news release.

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