Chicago won 23-12, and the most damning number on the box score belongs to the losing quarterback. Geno Smith went 8 of 15 for 119 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 101.8 rating. The Jets put up 12 points while their quarterback averaged 7.9 yards per attempt.
That's the argument. New York didn't lose because Smith couldn't play. It lost because the offense was built to avoid finding out.
Start with the target sheet. Kenyon Sadiq was targeted four times and caught none. Garrett Wilson got four targets and caught three for 27 yards. Isaiah Williams turned three targets into two catches, 73 yards and a 58-yard touchdown, an average of 36.5 yards per catch. Sterling Shepard got one look and caught nothing. So the Jets had a receiver averaging 36.5 a grab and a tight end with four targets and zero catches, and Smith finished the afternoon with 15 attempts.
The run game didn't bail anybody out. Braelon Allen carried 14 times for 59 yards, a 4.2 average, a long of 10, and added 2 catches for 8 yards. Fourteen carries and not one went further than 10 yards. Smith was sacked three times for 21 yards.
Chicago's side of the stat sheet is where the approach shows up. Minkah Fitzpatrick made 16 tackles, 8 of them solo, and intercepted a pass he returned 27 yards. Dane Belton made 14. Jamien Sherwood made 13. Demario Davis made 10 to go with a sack, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. Joseph Ossai and Harrison Phillips had 7 each. When your free safety is the leading tackler at 16, the other team is living in your secondary, and the Bears were.
Chicago split the carries. Kyle Monangai, D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson and Luther Burden III all appear as rushing leaders, with Tyson Bagent as the passing leader. That's about as much detail as the winner's side of this number set gives us, and it fits the shape of the game: four backs, no bell cow, a lot of bodies on the field.
The fourth quarter in the key plays is two official timeouts, at 10:01 and 9:16, and the final whistle at 0:00. Whatever decided this one happened before the clock got short.
New York is 1-3 because it plays offense like the pass is a last resort. Smith's rating says he's the best thing the Jets have going. His attempt count says nobody in that building agrees. I'll take the rating. Chicago is 3-1 and that's a real record, but this particular win says more about the team that wouldn't throw than the team that won. Until the Jets let Smith throw it more than 15 times in a game they're losing, 1-3 is the honest number.
