Being A Jets Fan Is Never Ending Darkness And Pain

Mike Stobe. Getty Images.

Jets fans, including myself, had brainwashed ourselves. We needed to believe that our Autumn wasn't going to be a relentless stretch of monthly victories strung together by wasted Sundays while the best weather of the year is taunting us from outside our windows.

Every Jets fans I spoke to felt this way. We NEEDED to believe that they were making the right decisions and this season would at least be interesting. Jets fans aren't asking for the playoffs this year. We just wanted to not be bored. This is a fan base that even the prospect of making the Super Bowl seems as foreign to most of us as actually playing in the game.

Then this morning, our dreams of simply being mildly entertained seemed to evaporate with a single tweet.

In that moment, it became cruelly aware that we were staking our entire Fall on a quarterback with a lifetime 14-30 record. It wasn't just that he was hurt (which at the time seemed awful), it was just that we couldn't really fool ourselves anymore. The news did get better as the morning wore on:

It's 6 weeks out for the season starting. I am no toe expert but without a fracture, I am guessing he'll be back by Opening Day with no problem. 

So where does that leave the Jets? Even with Fields (who I do like), what is the ceiling for this team? 7-10? I'm obviously very happy that Fields is ok but that doomed feeling that we felt this morning was not something I was prepared for. 

This is the lowest of the low. I've seen the Jets lose three AFC Championships (four in my lifetime) so there was once a time when the Super Bowl was a realistic dream. But, the Jets haven't made the playoffs in 14 years and this will be the 15th. Even the playoffs seem like a mirage. That's something other people get to enjoy. It's like being a poor kid on the wrong side of the tracks during Christmastime. You see other kids get great gifts so you're aware of a better life, but you know that's just not in the cards for you.

In conclusion, Justin Fields is going to be ok. That's great. I wish the same could be said for being a Jets fan.