CINCINNATI _ Just when you thought the Jets had distanced themselves from the NFL's bottom feeders, Adam Gase made an emphatic case that his team deserves a spot on the Mount Rushmore of Dreck.
Gang Green's Era of Good Feelings lasted a grand total of three weeks before they were embarrassed, 22-6, by the previously winless Bengals on Sunday.
It was the second time in five weeks that Gase handed an opponent their first win of the season. Rock bottom might have been falling to the 0-7 Dolphins, but this was equally painful.
The harsh truth: Cincinnati out-played and out-coached the Jets (4-8) in every imaginable way, a bitter pill to swallow given its season-long ineptitude. The Bengals had been an unmitigated disaster for three months, a punching bag for the rest of the league, before controlling this game.
The football gods handed the Jets a de facto second bye against these tomato cans, but the tryptophan evidently was still in Gang Green's system. Gase's club looked nothing like the improving group after a nightmarish first half of the season.
How could a team that scored 34 points for three consecutive games lay an egg to arguably the worst team in the sport? Maybe the answer isn't that difficult to uncover. Maybe the past few weeks were a mirage against cream puffs. Maybe their success was destined to be fleeting.
Maybe the Jets just stink too.
Gase's team was an undisciplined, disjointed mess. Poor execution coupled with poor coaching leads to a predictable result. The Jets were plagued by penalties and weird play-calling to officially bury any pie-in-the-sky thought that they could rally to sneak into the playoffs. Gang Green will miss the postseason for a ninth consecutive year.
The Jets offensive line (seven penalties) and secondary weren't nearly good enough to stop the Bengals from snapping their season-long 11-game losing streak. Gase's decision to air it out in the first half rather than feast on the league's worst run defense was a head scratcher.
Gase's offense never got on track against a team that had lost its first five home games by an average of 16 points and had been giving up 26.5 point a week. It was equal parts strange and laughable. The Jets have hardly been world beaters, but they weren't exactly facing the Steel Curtain.
The Jets dug a 17-6 halftime hole thanks to ill-timed penalties, drops and curious play-calling. Gase curiously dialed up 26 passes and only nine runs before the break against the NFL's worst run defense. The Bengals had allowed a league-high 166 yards on the ground this season, but Gase opted not to lean on Le'Veon Bell, who had just five carries in the first half.
Meanwhile, Andy Dalton, rejuvenated after a three-game benching, leaned on tight end C.J. Uzomah and wideout Tyler Boyd, who combined for nine catches, 101 yards and a touchdown to help build the double-digit halftime lead.
Sam Darnold threw 25 passes in a one-possession game for much of the first half. It was a mind-boggling approach by Gase, whose offense had been on fire (against bad defenses) in recent weeks. To make matters worse, Gang Green shot themselves in the foot with offensive and defensive penalties to fall behind the most inept team in the league.
Believe it or not, it got worse in the second half.
