Jets gets reality check as Bears completely dominate in ugly loss
CHICAGO — The Jets may talk about how they’ve been competitive in every game, and how that has to be considered progress after going 3-14 a year ago.They may argue that they should be 2-2 at worst and maybe even 3-1 right now.Yet, at the quarter pole of the 2026 season, the Jets are 1-3 after Sunday’s 23-12 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field.Text with Brian Costello all season as he brings Sports+ subscribers the latest Jets intel from on the field and off.
The Bears (3-1) can make a point that they should have won Sunday’s game 43-12 instead of 23-12 with the way they utterly dominated the Jets. Chicago outgained the Jets, 492 to 157 in total yards, produced 34 first downs to seven for the Jets, 232 rushing yards to 59 for the Jets.Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent, out of Shepard University in West Virginia and who hadn’t started a game since 2023, badly outplayed Jets quarterback Geno Smith.Smith, who’d played three crisp and clean games entering the game, having completed 75.5 percent of his passes, looked completely out of sorts on Sunday, finishing just 8-of-15 for 119 yards, 58 of which came on his only TD pass.Bagent, meanwhile, finished 25 of 34 for 268 yards.Considering the numbers, the Jets had to be ecstatic to enter the halftime locker room trailing only 13-3.Through the first 30 minutes of what was a somewhat bizarre first half, the Bears ran 46 plays to only 12 for the Jets.The Bears amassed 274 total yards to just 34 for the Jets, 17 first downs to two for the Jets.The Jets had more penalties in the first half than first downs.Chicago ran the ball 29 times for 112 yards in the first half.While Geno Smith was 3 of 8 for 18 yards and didn’t look sharp at all, Bears backup quarterback Bagent, who started in place of Caleb Williams (out with a hamstring injury), completed 16-of-22 for 170 yards.The only positive to come out of the first half for the Jets was safety Minkah Fitzpatrick ending their record-setting interception drought when ...