6 instant takeaways from the Jets' embarrassing loss to the Tyson Bagent-led Bears

The New York Jets dropped to 1-3 on Sunday after a relatively lifeless outing against the Chicago Bears. Despite the Bears playing their third different quarterback in three games, their offense moved the ball at will against Aaron Glenn's defense.

Ben Johnson proved once again that he's one of the brightest offensive minds in the NFL, while Glenn only provided more question marks about his abilities as a head coach.

After last week's promising one-score loss, the Jets took a step back in Week 4. Sunday's outing felt like it was ripped straight from the 2025 season.

Instant takeaways from the New York Jets brutal loss to Bears

1. The Jets defense bent, and then finally broke

Coming into Week 4, the Jets boasted the second-best defense in the NFL, holding opponents to 258 yards per game. That ranking is likely to drop after Sunday.

Ben Johnson's offense had their way with the Jets, and if it had not been for a few turnovers (shoutout to Minkah Fitzpatrick) and some fourth-down stops, the score might have gotten out of hand early.

Instead, it felt like death by a million papercuts, as the Bears ran the ball 54 times for a combined 232 rushing yards, and Bagent diced up the secondary to the tune of 268 yards, completing 25-of-34 pass attempts.

Somehow, the Bears ran 89 plays to the Jets' 32.

2. Geno Smith turned back into a pumpkin

After a heroic outing against the Detroit Lions in Week 3, Smith couldn't have had a worse day facing Chicago. It's not like he was working with his full array of weaponry, and the offensive line did him no favors, but the Jets' veteran quarterback was just flat-out bad.

Smith finished the day 8-of-15 passing for 119 yards and one touchdown. It should be noted that, had it not been for a 58-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Williams when the game was pretty much already over, his stat line would look a heck of a lot worse.

3. End of half situations continue to flummox the Jets

For the fourth consecutive week, the Jets got possession of the football with around two minutes to go and a chance to score some points heading into halftime.

For the fourth consecutive week, the Jets failed to do anything with it.

They started with a six-yard Braelon Allen run on first down, and followed it up with two straight incompletions, punting the ball back to the Bears with 1:50 to go. Frank Reich needs to figure out a way for the offense to get some more momentum in these situations.

4. The Jets forgot they had Garrett Wilson

After making Wilson a priority in the Jets' offense against the Lions, it felt like they forgot he existed against Chicago. New York targeted him only four times, and he hauled in three catches for 27 yards.

Four targets are inexcusable. When your passing offense is as lifeless as the Jets' was, you just need to start force-feeding your best players. Even Kenyon Sadiq, who broke out with his own 100-yard performance last week, failed to catch a single pass on four targets.

5. Can any of the Jets' pass rushers make a play?

The Bears have a good offensive line; there's no question about that. But the Jets need to get something from their pass rushers, and it felt like they were practically non-existent in Week 4.

Linebacker Demario Davis was the only Jet to record a sack, and New York only recorded two quarterback hits on Bagent. David Bailey, Joseph Ossai, and Will McDonald IV may as well be on the side of a milk carton.

6. The second half looked an awful lot like 2025...

The last two Jets losses were respectable, at least. Against Green Bay, New York fought until the bitter end, as sloppy as it was. In Detroit, the Jets came back from down two scores to tie the game late in the fourth.

On Sunday, the Jets looked listless, lifeless, whichever adjective you want to use. It looked like a loss straight out of the 2025 season, and that's arguably the worst thing that could happen to Glenn, who is fighting for his job.

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