Don't Let 1 Game Fool You, Geno Smith Still Not Jets' Answer at QB

For the first time in a long time, the New York Jets got adequate play from their quarterback in a hard-fought loss to the Minnesota Vikings—but that does not mean they should act as if this is the beginning of an upward trend. 

Benched on multiple occasions this year, Geno Smith has all but been ruled out as the future of the franchise. One mediocre losing performance does not change this perspective. 

The Jets' standards for quarterbacking have fallen to a point where anything between "humiliating" and "mediocre" would seem like a massive upgrade over what they have endured this season. If the Jets want to continue to go toe-to-toe with sub-.500 teams like the Vikings, Smith is the perfect man for the job. 

If general manager John Idzik (or whoever is making such decisions in the coming months) wants to ever get this disastrous rebuilding project off the ground, New York will need to find a quarterback who will not force it to make these decisions on an annual basis.

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Smith is still a young player with less than two full seasons under his belt, but the odds of him being anything more than a marginal NFL quarterback are growing slimmer with each passing week. Waiting on Smith to magically take a massive step into the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks will only waste even more time and increase frustrations.  

For a franchise that last fielded a winning team when Mark Sanchez was throwing to a happy and productive Santonio Holmes, time is a resource the Jets cannot afford to waste.

To his credit, Smith did show some rare resiliency after throwing a pick-six on the first play of the game, refraining from turning the ball over for the rest of the afternoon and bringing the Jets within one drive of winning the game. However, while Smith was better, simply showing improvement is not enough to sell the concept of him ever hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.

The fact that he threw such a horrendous interception on a predetermined throw should not be dismissed simply because he looked like a respectable NFL quarterback for most of the game. After all, it was less than a week ago that the Jets treated Smith like a Pop Warner quarterback, allowing him to throw just eight times before the final drive of their loss to the Miami Dolphins.  

As with just about any phase of the game, true colors were revealed in the red zone, where Smith struggled the most. Curious play-calling and ill-timed fumbles did not help, but going 0-of-5 in the red zone cost the Jets their third win.

There is a chance Smith improves over the final three weeks to plant one more seed of optimism that his career as a starter may endure after all. Maybe Smith does improve over the long term and become a player worthy of his status as a second-round pick. Either way, the Jets do not have the time to find out. 

Over the next offseason, the Jets will be in the business of accelerating a rebuilding project that has gone horribly wrong, not salvaging the sinking career of a second-round quarterback.

Just one year ago, Smith had a strong enough month of December to get the Jets to an unlikely 8-8 record, swindling them into handing him the keys to the franchise at the start of this season. Geno has repaid the Jets' loyalty by missing meetings and regressing to a lesser player than he was from his up-and-down rookie year.

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This spring, the Jets are going to have a bevy of free-agent and draft options at the position that could potentially turn the fortunes of this franchise in free-fall for good. If the Jets buy into the same fool's gold Smith sold them last December, they will only be able to blame themselves for the mess they will assuredly be in 365 days from now. 

Moving on from the idea of Smith as their franchise quarterback is not a decision they had planned on making four months ago, but taking another gamble on him carries a lot more risk than anyone they can use with their top draft pick.

His desirable blend of age, raw talent and (relatively) low cost will keep him on an NFL roster for a while longer, but the Jets' evaluation of Smith was complete when he was indefinitely benched for Michael Vick in late October. On a losing team with nothing to play for, this is not an environment to determine whether Smith is a better or worse quarterback than he was last month.  

The Jets have paid dearly for putting their faith in the wrong quarterback over and over again. At some point, they will need to learn from their repeated mistakes so they don't have to keep answering the same questions every winter.