Jets achieve dubious mark: But is it due to fade soon?

Gang Green stands alone.

Following the Buffalo Sabers’ clinching a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the New York Jets stand alone with North America’s longest playoff drought at 15 years. It’s tied for the fifth-longest drought in NFL history.

Before reaching this year’s tournament, Buffalo was suffering through a 14-year drought. Only when their youth movement was met with proper coaching did the organization finally take the next step.

It’s a lesson the Jets must learn the hard way. But as they now stand alone in North American sports, it is as good a time as any to ask the one question fans are dying to know:

When will their playoff drought end?

Jets stand alone

Unfortunately for the Jets, this is not their first 10+ year playoff drought in franchise history. Following their loss in the divisional round of the 1969 playoffs, New York did not reach the postseason again until 1981.

They did not finish above .500 in any of those 11 years, either.

Context, of course, matters. Back in the late 60s and 70s, NFL playoffs consisted of just four to five teams per conference, depending on the year. This was at a time when the league consisted of 26 to 28 teams.

Now, there are 32 teams, and seven teams in each conference make the playoffs. The fact that the Jets cannot make it into the playoffs in this era, let alone finish with an above .500 record, shows just how far they have fallen.

If there’s one thing the modern league has shown us, though, it’s that quick turnarounds happen all the time. After the Jets, the team with the longest drought is the Atlanta Falcons at eight seasons. Atlanta has hovered around .500, though, and finished second place in the NFC South in three years during this drought.

After Atlanta, the next closest drought is at five years.

New York is in rare territory, and it begs the question if they can ever figure it out.

Future chances

The one solace Jets fans should recognize, despite their current playoff drought, is the fact that the organization is well aware of its own futility and is doing everything in its power to fix it.

Head coach Aaron Glenn at the league meetings in Arizona last week acknowledged how much the drought weighs on him, especially as a former player of the organization.

“I want to leave a legacy, I do,” Glenn said. “When I’m gone, man, I’m looking at this team being a team that consistently puts themselves in a place to win.

“There’s not a day, there’s not an hour, there’s not a minute I don’t think about that.”

New York has the resources to end this current drought. Five first-round picks and three second-round picks over the next two drafts are the kind of capital that can turn a franchise around.

If the Jets want to join the Sabres in postseason play, though, it’s not just about finding young talent. It’s also about having the right coaching to put it all together.

That’s what has kept New York in their rut.