Jets humiliating loss to Jaguars proves a coaching change is long overdue

The New York Jets are a bad football team. Few expected the Jets to be a serious threat to defeat the now-10-win Jacksonville Jaguars in their Week 15 matchup, especially with undrafted rookie Brady Cook making his first career start under center.

Competitive football was still supposed to be the bare minimum. The offense could be excused for struggling, but the defense was expected to look competent, especially after its letdown against Miami a week earlier.

Instead, Jets fans were subjected to one of the most humiliating defensive performances the team has put on in years. The Jaguars scored 48 points before benching Trevor Lawrence, who accounted for six total touchdowns, early in the fourth quarter.

The Jets' offense arguably punched above its weight class with an undrafted rookie quarterback in the game. But the defense made the outcome non-competitive almost immediately, allowing 31 points in a disastrous first-half performance.

Once again, the Jets’ defense was the punching bag, and the person in charge of the unit will rightfully shoulder most of the blame. It’s becoming increasingly clear that defensive coordinator Steve Wilks is coaching his way out of Florham Park.

Jets should fire Steve Wilks after disastrous Week 15 performance

Wilks was viewed as a major hire when the Jets brought him in. First-year head coach Aaron Glenn leaned on his experience, hoping a veteran defensive mind could stabilize and elevate the unit.

That hasn't been the case. The Jets have had one of the worst defenses in football this season, and while some of that can be blamed on an injury-riddled unit, the team has the personnel to be better than this.

This is a team that employs a Pro Bowl defensive end, a 10-sack defensive end, an All-Pro linebacker, a $15 million AAV linebacker, a $12 million AAV, and two good defensive tackles. The bar should be low, but it can't be this low.

Part of the issue remains Wilks' vanilla defensive scheme. Entering Week 15, the Jets ranked seventh in the NFL in blitz rate and 31st in pressure rate on blitzes. That's more than a personnel problem — that's schematic malpractice.

The Jets are routinely exposed in the middle of the field, partly because of atrocious linebacker play but also due to stubborn defensive play-calling that repeatedly puts the unit at a disadvantage. This is the same Jets team that has just three takeaways and zero interceptions through 15 weeks.

It's becoming a problem that's impossible to ignore. The Jets are unlikely to make any major coaching changes before the season ends, but as Glenn and his team evaluate their staff in the coming weeks, it's increasingly apparent that Wilks should not be a part of the organization's plans for 2026.

Sunday's loss only confirmed what we already knew. Steve Wilks should be a goner.