Sunday’s regular season finale looked a lot like the games the Jets were imagining when they traded for quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Jets to a 32-20 win over the Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Unfortunately, the win only moved the Jets’ record to 5-12 so they will not be playing any postseason games with the veteran quarterback.
The Dolphins won’t be playing any either. They came into Sunday with hopes of advancing to the playoffs, but the Broncos crushed the Chiefs second-string to sew up a playoff berth and eliminate the Dolphins before they officially eliminated themselves with the loss.
Rodgers hit tight end Tyler Conklin with his first touchdown and that made him the fourth player in NFL history to reach 500 career passing touchdowns. He ends the season with 503, which is five behind his former teammate Brett Favre for fourth place in league history. The questions of whether Rodgers will keep playing and, if he does, where he’ll be playing will be storylines to watch as the offseason gets rolling.
Rodgers also hit wide receivers Allen Lazard and Davante Adams for touchdowns before wrapping up the scoring with a toss to running back Breece Hall. That led to a lot of smiles on the sideline, but the overall mood around the Jets isn’t a happy one given how far they came from meeting their preseason expectations.
In addition to figuring out Rodgers’s situation, the Jets have big questions to answer about their next head coach and General Manager. Those decisions will chart a new course for a team that has now gone 14 seasons without making the playoffs.
The Dolphins are out of the playoffs for the first time since 2021 and their focus will be on keeping quarterback Tua Tagovailoa healthy. Tyler Huntley, who had four turnovers Sunday, started the final two games of the season because Tagovailoa is out with a hip injury and they also used Skylar Thompson when Tagovailoa missed time early in the season, but the team struggled without their starter and any improvements elsewhere on the roster will be mitigated if they have to try to squeeze by with mediocre quarterback play again next year.
