Can a head coach be completely right and still be the problem? With the New York Jets, the answer is yes.

Jets coach Aaron Glenn said all the right things after Sunday’s 35-12 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. This postgame message made me happy and a little mad at the same time.

Glenn was asked how he keeps his team, and everyone around the Jets fanbase, believing at 2-7.

“It’s all about our process, to be honest with you. It gets tough, I know it does, but it’s the belief. We’ve shown spurts that we can play at a high level,” Glenn said after the game.

Aaron Glenn acknowledges the real problem by accident

Look, Glenn is right. He is actually right. It is about the process, and it does get tough. You have to hold onto that belief, and New York has shown stretches where it can play at a high level.

The problem is who is saying it. Aaron Glenn is the main reason the Jets can’t do anything more than 2-7 right now. To be fair, this goes for the coaching staff in general, and OC Frank Reich belongs in that conversation too.

The New York Jets have plenty of talent on their football team. They might not have playoff talent or Super Bowl talent, but they have enough players to be better than 2-7.

And about those spurts of high-level play? Most teams in the NFL have shown that by this point in the season, even when their records don’t reflect it. The Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers have probably all had moments where they looked like a good football team.

It’s the NFL. Flashes don’t win you games.

Coaching keeps putting the Jets in tough spots

Don’t get me wrong, the Jets’ players are by no means perfect. But this coaching staff constantly puts them in tough situations that are hard to climb out of.

Think about the offense. New York has an explosive group with a lot of playmakers, and Reich does a pretty good job of spreading the football around to them. The issue shows up when it matters most.

In two-minute situations, or in the red zone like we saw against Kansas City, this team can’t turn trips into meaningful points. A few field goals here and there won’t cut it. The Jets simply can’t get into the end zone when they need to.

Then there’s the defense, and this is where Glenn takes the most heat from me. 

Glenn’s defense is holding everything back. The Jets have had games where the offense puts up a good amount of points and the defense still can’t get stops.

Think back to last week against the Raiders. New York’s offense put up a lot of points. The Jets did the same against the Dolphins, too. In both games, they couldn’t get off the field.

That’s the part I can’t get past. Glenn calls the defensive plays. As the head coach, this should be a defensive team, because a team usually takes on its head coach’s identity. The Jets haven’t. They have talent on that side of the ball, with some veterans mixed in, and they still can’t get it done.

What’s left for the Jets in 2026?

Hope is pretty grim for the rest of the season in New York. If you’re a fan, you probably just want to see the young guys on the field now. Let the future of this team take snaps, make plays, develop, and get better.

But again, that is what makes this so frustrating. This Jets team should be in the hunt right now. With the talent on this roster, New York should be sitting around 4-5 or 5-4.

Instead, the Jets are 2-7, and the man preaching belief in the process is the biggest reason why the process is failing.

Aaron Glenn can keep saying the right things, but until his defense starts getting stops, the Jets are going to keep wasting a roster that deserves better.