The Jets record in the last 20 years: When was the last time they had a winning season?

There was an air of despondency at MetLife Stadium last Sunday - even before the Week 5 game against the Cowboys. And somehow, also a feeling of inevitability. Five defeats in a row for Aaron Glenn’s team along with some of the worst defensive figures in franchise history.

The 2025 NFL season has quickly spiraled into a nightmare for the New York Jets. Glenn, who has been at the helm for little over eight months, is now the first head coach in franchise history to start his tenure 0–5.

What’s most alarming is the complete collapse of a defense that was once considered the team’s backbone. The numbers are staggering:

With the Denver Broncos (3-2) up next at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, the coach was the first to acknowledge the severity of the situation, telling reporters after Friday’s practice: “I understand everything that’s going on about who we are, what we’ve done and what we’re all about. To me, it’s the focus of making sure that we improve.

“There are some things internally that we have to fix when it comes to ball protection, penalties, defense, offense - making sure we score...” Glenn continued. “All those things, we’re really digging hard into them to make sure we do the right things to get that done. It’s time for us to get those things done”.

Lou Holtz lost his first four games as Jets coach in 1976 and Adam Gase went 0-13 in 2020, his second year in charge.

Glenn’s team have a long way to go to match Gase’s unfortunate record - the worst start to a campaign in the franchise’s history. And they still have time to get into positive figures.

The Jets’ last winning season

It has been a decade since the Jets had a winning season. The most recent was in 2015 when Todd Bowles’ team finished the regular season 10-6 in his first year.

The Jets kicked off the campaign with a 31-10 win at home to the Cleveland Browns, then followed that by beating the Colts 20–7. The first blip came in a Week 3, a 17–24 loss to the Eagles at the MetLife but the team was back to winning ways a week later, defeating the Dolphins 27–14 in front of a crowd of 83,986 at Wembley.

October through November proved to be the toughest period of the season with defeats to the Patriots, Bills, Raiders and Texans but Bowles’ men recovered to string together five straight wins to finish second in AFC East, behind the Patriots (12-4).

Cruelly denied a place in the playoffs

However, it wasn’t enough to qualify for the postseason. The Jets and the Steelers both ended 10-6 in the Conference standings but Pittsburgh entered the Wild Card as the No. 6 seed for having the better head-to-head record against common opponents. The Steelers were 4-1 versus Cleveland, Indianapolis, New England and Oakland, while the Jets were 3–2 against the same four teams.

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