NY Jets still have a shockingly high chance to make the playoffs in 2024

The NY Jets have had a disastrous start to the 2024 season. They sit at 2-5 through seven games, have fired their head coach, and look nothing like the Super Bowl contenders they were touted to be with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.

Rodgers, while he's had his moments, has looked like a shell of his former self and the Jets' playoff hopes have all but disappeared before we've even reached the month of November. Or have they?

According to ESPN Analytics, the Jets somehow still have a 47% chance of making the postseason in 2024. That seems unreasonably high, given the fact that the Jets would need to finish 7-3 to even secure a winning record. The ESPN model must really love the Jets.

The Athletic's playoff predictions model is a bit less favorable to Gang Green. That model has the Jets with just a 19% chance of reaching the playoffs this season. They are the highest-ranked 2-5 team in the model, but that's not saying much.

How can the NY Jets still make the playoffs?

It wouldn't be easy, but there is still a realistic path to the postseason for the Jets. The organization may be at its lowest point in years (which is saying a lot), but if the team can somehow string together a few wins, they still have a shot at making the playoffs.

The Jets actually have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL based on DVOA rankings. The only objectively difficult matchups — at least on paper — upcoming for the Jets are a home game against the Houston Texans on Halloween and a road matchup with the Buffalo Bills in Week 17.

The remainder of the Jets' schedule is filled with relatively winnable games. That's likely part of the reason the analytics models are more optimistic about the Jets than their fan base is.

Of course, football isn't played on a spreadsheet. The Jets exist in their own world of dysfunction — a world in which logic and probability do not exit. The Jets don't make sense, so there's no use trying to use a projections model to predict their future.

The Jets still technically have a chance to make a run, salvage their season, and end their 13-year playoff drought this year, possibly a better chance than most probably realize. But until they prove they can stack positive results and get out of their own way, it's hard to have any faith in them accomplishing their goals.

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