Each one ultimately, and uniquely, soul-crushing. Four that went all the way to the AFC Championship Game (1982, 1998, 2009, 2010). It’s hard to reach the Super Bowl when you have to survive the grueling gauntlet of the playoffs via Wild Card.īut they have made some unforgettable runs that are treasured by the fanbase. Put into perspective, that’s the same number of division champions they won in the AFL (1968 & 69), a league that only existed for 10 years. They have only won the AFC East twice (1998 & 2002) since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. While the Jets have not been as putrid as the Browns or Lions, they’ve rarely finished first in their division – the prerequisite for hosting a playoff game between 20. Gang Green has not hosted a playoff game in over 20 years. Part of the problem is that 17 of those games have been played on the road. Like any long-term toxic relationship, there are reasons people stick it out, as unhealthy as that might be.īorn three years and four months after “The Guarantee” of Super Bowl III, I have witnessed the Jets play in 22 playoff games and win ten of them. That’s not to say there have not been good times. Over 40 years later, we are still waiting for what seemed inevitable in that moment. There would be no Super Bowl for the Jets that year, or the next. Little did I know that such celebrations of mediocrity would constitute the good old days. My team was on the precipice of greatness.

I fell in love with the Jets that season, like only a sports-crazed child can. I was 9 years old and adored every second.

The spoils of that victory were chopped up and dispersed throughout the Tri-State area like fragments of the Holy Cross.Īll of that happened because the Jets were going to host a lousy Wild Card game.Įlsewhere in the Borough of Queens, my father and I joyfully watched the chaos on television.

The goal posts were torn down, broken apart and carried out into the parking lot. Players struggled through the mob to find the locker room. With the Jets playoff bound, a thousand or so delirious fans poured onto the field. Led by a beloved defensive front known as the New York Sack Exchange, the Jets manhandled Green Bay, sacking Packer QB Lynn Dickey nine-times. The fans that filled Shea Stadium that day were primed for a return to relevancy. Win and make the playoffs, lose and the season would be over.įor the Jets, they had not qualified for the postseason in 12 years, back when Broadway Joe was still a functional quarterback.

On a bitterly cold day in December of 1981, the New York Jets hosted the Green Bay Packers on the last Sunday of the regular season. Aaron Rodgers & The Rapture of a Tormented Fandom

Golden curse m lynn