NY Jets disastrous collapse proves Robert Saleh firing was a huge mistake

The NY Jets fired now-former head coach Robert Saleh following a 2-3 start to the season because the team wanted to provide a spark. The Jets had underachieved to begin the year, and owner Woody Johnson believed firing Saleh gave the team the best chance to save their season.

Instead, the Saleh firing only served to further send a struggling Jets team into a tailspin.

The Jets were poorly coached under Saleh, but his firing was unique given that he hadn't exactly lost the locker room. The players still universally loved Saleh, and it seemed odd to fire him following a six-point loss to the best team in the NFL at the time.

Johnson made Saleh the scapegoat for all of the Jets' organizational dysfunction, but it's become increasingly apparent that not only was he not the root of the team's issues, but firing him only served to make the situation worse.

The NY Jets have completely imploded following the Robert Saleh firing

It's hard to argue that Saleh's firing was not justifiable at the time, at least on paper. Saleh was just 20-36 in a little over three years as the Jets' head coach. The team would consistently struggle to put away inferior opposition and was prone to meltdowns when the lights were brightest.

Saleh is not immune to criticism — in a vacuum, he likely deserved to be fired. The issue with the decision has become evident, however. It was never going to fix anything.

Saleh wasn't the root of the Jets' misfortune, he was merely a byproduct of an organization plagued by instability and misguided priorities. The revolving door of coaches, inconsistent roster decisions, and top-down dysfunction have all but guaranteed that any leader in his position would struggle to find lasting success.

In firing Saleh, the Jets promoted a first-time head coach in Jeff Ulbrich who appears to be in well over his head. The Jets' defense has taken a significant step back since Saleh was fired, which shouldn't really come as a surprise.

While Ulbrich has been the one calling plays for the Jets, this was and has always been Robert Saleh's defense. On top of that, Ulbrich has been handed all of Saleh's responsibilities as a head coach in addition to his responsibilities as a defensive coordinator.

Those are unfair expectations to place on an inexperienced coach. The Jets firing Saleh didn't fix anything — it only served to overwhelm their assistant coach and further tank their season.

Would keeping Saleh around have made the Jets a playoff team? Probably not. But it would look better than this. The Jets' defense is floundering, they continue to get out-coached on a weekly basis, and the players seemingly quit the moment Saleh was let go.

Woody Johnson fired Saleh as a quick-fix scheme to cure the Jets' dysfunction. Instead, his impulsive decision sent them spiraling into a cycle of further turmoil. He managed to completely dismantle a team that was already broken.

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