Pressure on Todd Bowles mounts with another poor effort by Jets

 JACKSONVILLE, Fla.

Sam Darnold still will be a Jet come January and beyond, so there will be time to analyze what must be done to help him turn into the quarterback the franchise needs him to be. (And it is a lot.)

That was true before Sunday’s game against the Jaguars at TIAA Bank Field, and it was true after a 31-12 loss in which the rookie quarterback was but one contributing factor in an embarrassing, roster-wide debacle.

But the clock is ticking more loudly than ever on his boss, who at this rate will not be around to see the Darnold project through beyond Year 1.

Todd Bowles’ job is winning games, and absent that, at least putting a competitive product on the field to entertain fans and help the kid develop.

None of that happened here, and now the Jets have lost three in a row and are on pace to finish 4-12, which would be a game worse than they were in each of the previous two seasons.

If it goes that way, Bowles — currently the dean of all New York-area pro coaches and managers — would be playoff-less in his four seasons and likely would be on his way out of town.

Not that it’s over yet. There are 12 games left, and the next three — against the Broncos, Colts and Vikings — are at MetLife Stadium, where fans will not be in a patient mood.

For now, though .  .  . yuck.

“I wish I could explain it,” he said afterward, “but we didn’t look very good.”

Bowles stressed that the Jets had been competitive in their first three games, which technically is true. But their most recent one, against the Browns 10 days earlier, included a late meltdown against rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Now this. They gave up 503 total yards. With a coach who won a Super Bowl playing as a safety and is supposed to know defense. Against a team quarterbacked by Blake Bortles. Blake Bortles! He threw for 388 yards, a career high.

Bowles said the team had practiced all week against the underneath routes the Jaguars would use against them. Then the game began and they seemed never to have observed such a route before.

There also were curious game-management decisions.

With 12:56 left, facing fourth-and-8 at the Jacksonville 20-yard line and his team trailing by 22 points — twenty-two! — Bowles opted to kick a field goal to cut the deficit to 19.

“We needed a couple of scores anyway,” he said. “We had to come out of that with three points.”

With 4:33 left, facing fourth-and-6 at his own 20 and his team trailing by 13, Bowles opted to punt.

He said that rather than set up the Jaguars for a game-clinching field goal, he wanted to give his defense a chance for a stop, score quickly, then hope to recover an onside kick and score again.

But that stuff was academic. The Jets were dominated across the board, to the point that another not-so-great day for Darnold — 17-for-34, 167 yards, one TD, no interceptions — was a secondary story.

There were the usual untimely penalties, just to add to the case against the coach.

Players know the heat is rising on Bowles.

“When we were 1-1, there was noise about Todd,” safety Jamal Adams said. “It’s the nature of the business. That’s the best coach for us. That’s our guy. I’m riding for him. I’m definitely behind him.

“At the same time, we’re not focused on that. We’re focused on the next game.”

Said linebacker Darron Lee: “Coach Bowles isn’t a player. The players have to worry about ourselves and worry about going out and playing first. We all have to perform. So everybody’s got to step their game up, myself included .  .  . I don’t really care about any of that chatter, to be honest with you. It’s just a matter of us playing.”

October would be a good time for that, if they want to keep Bowles around.

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.