Jets fans can only laugh at latest rumored NFL coaching comeback

There are certain names that New YorkJets fans never expect to see resurface, if only because doing so feels like tempting fate. Adam Gase is firmly at the top of that list, a relic of an era so spectacularly disastrous that it almost feels like a fever dream in hindsight. And yet, here we are.

CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported on Friday that Gase has emerged as a possible candidate to join the Los Angeles Chargers as an offensive assistant under Jim Harbaugh.

Yes, that Adam Gase. The former Jets head coach, who vanished from the NFL coaching world after his 9–23 tenure in New York, including a disastrous 2–14 season in 2020.

Gase has not held a coaching job since being fired by the Jets, instead spending recent years largely out of the public eye with brief consulting work and the occasional cameo.

The idea that Gase could suddenly reappear on an NFL sideline after years of absence is jarring enough. That it might happen now, out of nowhere, is what makes the entire situation so unintentionally funny for Jets fans who thought they had seen the last of him.

Ex-Jets head coach Adam Gase is nearing a return to the NFL

Gase’s Jets tenure was doomed essentially from the moment it began. His introductory press conference in 2019, defined by the now-infamous wide-eyed, bug-eyed stare, immediately set an unsettling tone, one that would prove oddly prophetic.

What followed was two seasons of dysfunction and incompetence that Jets fans are still trying to forget. Gase went 9–23 as head coach, including a 2–14 implosion in 2020 that effectively cemented his legacy in New York.

One of the most emblematic moments came late in the 2019 season, when Gase famously skipped Thanksgiving dinner with his family to game plan for an 0–11 Cincinnati Bengals team. The Jets still lost, 22–6, which was really a fitting snapshot of that era.

Perhaps the most damaging consequence of Gase’s tenure was the handling of Sam Darnold's development. Once viewed as the franchise quarterback, Darnold regressed badly under Gase, as his development was stalled by an incoherent offense and constant instability.

The Jets ultimately moved on from both men in 2020, ending Gase’s run prematurely and leaving the organization to pick up the pieces. The irony now is unfortunately impossible to ignore.

Darnold is one day away from starting in the Super Bowl as the Seahawks’ quarterback, while Gase is suddenly being linked to a potential NFL return after five years out of the game.

You could argue the Jets have never fully recovered from the embarrassment of that era, which makes this resurfacing all the more surreal. Good for Gase if he finds his way back into the league, though Chargers fans may not be thrilled.

After half a decade out of the coaching world, Adam Gase might be staging a comeback, and somehow, the Jets still find a way to dominate headlines during Super Bowl weekend.