Rex Ryan has run out of tomorrows with the Jets

There are five games remaining for the Jets, but the truth is painfully obvious after Monday night's 38-3 debacle against the Bills dropped the Jets' record in this hideous season to 2-9: The Rex Ryan era is over.

Four straight years with no playoffs, and now a season reminiscent of Rich Kotite's 1-15 nightmare in 1996, and there is no other choice. Ryan hasn't had a winning season since 2010, and to go this long without sniffing the playoffs in a league where quick turnarounds are commonplace means it's time for a change.

The quick-witted, defensive-minded coach came to the Jets in 2009 with a fresh approach and an in-your-face style that was a welcome change after the catatonic Eric Mangini years, and Ryan delivered back-to-back AFC Championship Game runs in his first two seasons. He also delivered some classic one-liners, evidenced no better than his "I didn't come here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings, I came here to kick his [butt]" zinger to Newsday late in the 2010 season. But despite a charismatic personality that still is revered by players, who remain deeply devoted to their coach, Ryan has done a dreadful coaching job with a team that is now among the worst in the NFL.

Five games remain, starting with Monday night's home game against the Dolphins, and then it's finished. "We know we have to get better and we have to get better in a hurry," he said on a conference call yesterday afternoon. "We're running out of tomorrows."

Actually, Ryan is out of tomorrows. His Jets were destroyed by a Buffalo team that had to switch to a neutral field in Detroit because Ralph Wilson Stadium was unplayable because of a midweek blizzard. Many Bills players had to be taken by snowmobile from their homes to make the trip to Detroit, and the team didn't have its first practice until Friday evening. The Jets, meanwhile, had two weeks to prepare and didn't have to worry about playing in inclement weather in Buffalo, yet still put on its most embarrassing display this season.

His players were listless in all three phases of the game, including a defense that made journeyman quarterback Kyle Orton look like Tom Brady and wide receiver Robert Woods look like Jerry Rice. The Jets gave up a blocked punt for a touchdown, and Michael Vick produced just three points before being pulled for Geno Smith.

"We totally got outplayed in all facets of the game," Ryan said. "It's hard to believe that we got outplayed the way we did and 'out-everythinged.' It was such a poor performance that it's hard to watch."

Unfortunately for Ryan, his team has been mostly unwatchable all year. Except for a seemingly inexplicable home upset of the Steelers heading into their bye week, the Jets have put out a brutal product the entire season. Even their 19-14 opening-day win over the Raiders, who went 0-10 before getting their first win, left Ryan disgusted by his team's mistake-filled performance.

In nearly six full seasons as the coach, Ryan has never gotten it right with his quarterbacks; he settled on Mark Sanchez as his franchise passer before the 2009 draft, but the "Sanchize" never developed into the player Ryan had envisioned. The Jets' ill-advised signing of Tim Tebow didn't help matters, and Sanchez's shoulder injury in 2013 essentially ended his run in New York.

Geno Smith showed some promise last year in starting all 16 games, but his regression this year was stunningly swift. And unlike the Bills, who gave up on their own second-year quarterback, E.J. Manuel, and turned to Orton, Ryan waited until the season was all but over before turning to Vick.

Too late now.

Ryan's roster was not as good as it should have been this season, thanks to general manager John Idzik's failure to solidify the cornerback position and add sufficient depth at receiver. And Idzik may wind up paying for those transgressions with his own job, something team owner Woody Johnson should no doubt consider when he goes about reconstructing this team moving forward. This thing may require a complete overhaul.

Ryan admitted on Tuesday that talent alone is not the issue, a further indictment of his own performance. "I think we have a lot of talent on this football team," he said. "We might not be as talented or as deep as other teams in certain areas, but I think we have more than enough talent to be competitive and to have a better record than we do."

If it's not talent, then it's coaching.

Ryan started off so well in his first two seasons, going a combined 20-12 and 4-2 in the playoffs. But the team has gone mostly backward ever since, and he's 24-35 -- with four straight empty postseasons -- ever since.

"I expect to coach here for five weeks, and after the season, that's when we'll be evaluated and we'll go from there," Ryan said.

But nothing Ryan can do in the next five weeks should change the outcome. Despite his players' collective wish to see him continue as coach, now is not the time to listen to them lobby for his return.

Now is the time to look in a new direction for another coach.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”