It’s official: after Monday night’s 41-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the New York Jets are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The Jets’ downward spiral continued with a fourth-straight defeat, no thanks to an offense that has been very anemic of late with just an average of 11 points scored over the last three losses.
Simply put, New York doesn’t have a dependable quarterback under center this season. Ryan Fitzpatrick had another lackluster day throwing the ball by completing just five of 12 passes for 81 yards and an interception against the Colts. Head coach Todd Bowles had enough of Fitzgerald’s blunders, so rookie backup Bryce Petty got an extended amount of playing time in Monday night’s game. However, Petty didn’t do much himself to change the outcome of the contest by going 11-of-25 for 135 passing yards, one touchdown and two more picks.
With the passing game in disarray, the Jets still weren’t able to do much on the ground to help their cause. They combined for 14 carries for just 36 rushing yards on Monday, and must have a better showing against the Niners this Sunday to make up for the bad play at QB.
There aren’t any bright spots on defense, either. The Colts entered Week 13 with the worst defense per DVOA, and yet the Jets only managed to sack Andrew Luck once while surrendering a whopping 421 yards and 41 points to a middling Indy team. Luck, mind you, is the most-sacked QB in the NFL this season.
Taking a downright beating at home is the last thing that New York needs. The team will now travel to the West Coast on a short week, granted that their next contest will be against lowly San Francisco. Then again, the Jets have lost four of their last five road games (SU/ATS), with their only victory coming against the winless Cleveland Browns and by only three points at that.
The 26-6 loss in Chicago against the equally-incompetent Bears set a new low for the San Francisco 49ers this season. Not only did they extend their worst-ever losing streak to 11 games, they also gained a franchise-low six (!) net passing yards on Sunday.
Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert were left frozen on Solider Field’s snow-covered grounds that afternoon, as the two combined for an abysmal 39 yards through the air on 5-of-15 passing. Heck, Kaepernick took more sacks (five) than the number of yards he put up (four) against the Bears. Subtract 33 positive yards because of the five sacks taken, and that’s how the 49ers ended up with less than 10 measly passing yards in very embarrassing fashion.
Although, some people would actually consider Kaepernick’s rough day to the wintry weather that he’s not normally accustomed to in sunny California or Nevada from back in college. The socio-politically-outspoken QB has been a lightning rod recently (for fantasy football at the very least, that is), with over 1,100 passing yards and a total of eight TDs to just two interceptions in the four games prior to Sunday’s loss.
Plus, the Niners still ran the ball rather well against Chicago as they had 141 rushing yards on 34 carries and with lead back Carlos Hyde accounting for 92 of those yards on 20 touches. As it stands, they are still the fourth-best rushing team in the league with about 128 rushing yards per contest.
San Francisco’s defense, however, is another abomination in and of itself. The Bears played without their two best players on offense in Jay Cutler and Alshon Jeffery, and yet they made the visiting team look like an FCS program last Sunday. The 49ers literally have the worst defense in the NFL right now, one that ranks at the very bottom of the league in both average points (31.8) and yards allowed (416) per game.
Perhaps a visit from a similarly disappointing team this Sunday will snap the Niners out of their miserable funk. They’ve won seven of the last eight meetings against the Jets (6-2 ATS), including the last three games held in the Bay Area.
Writer’s Prediction
The 49ers (-2.5) finally get their second win of the season, 22-16.
