The Jets have shockingly fired head coach Robert Saleh on Tuesday after a 2-3 start to the season.
Saleh was 20-36 as the Jets coach five games into his fourth season on the job. The Jets entered the 2024 season with Super Bowl aspirations as quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned from a season-ending injury in 2023.
The Jets have not looked good in the early part of the season, though, and have dropped the last two games. The final straw was a 23-17 loss to the Vikings in London on Sunday, a game in which Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions and the offense looked lost for much of the game.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich will be the interim head coach.
“This morning, I informed Robert Saleh that he will no longer serve as the Head Coach of the Jets,” owner Woody Johnson said in a statement. “I thanked him for his hard work these past three-and-a-half years and wished him and his family well moving forward. This was not an easy decision, but we are not where we should be given our expectations, and I believe now is the best time for us to move in a different direction.
“Jeff Ulbrich will serve as our Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season. he is a tough coach who has the respect of the coaches and players on this team. I believe he along with the coaches on this staff can get the most out of our talented team and attain the goals we established this offseason.”
Saleh had one year remaining on the contract he signed in 2021.
This is the first time that Woody Johnson has fired a head coach during the season and the first time the Jets have had a coaching change in the middle of the season since 1976 when Lou Holtz quit.
Saleh’s tenure was defined by a good defense and terrible quarterback play.
He inherited a team that went 2-14 under Adam Gase in 2020. The Jets drafted quarterback Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in 2021 and went 4-13 in Saleh’s first year. Wilson never progressed and the Jets went 7-10, losing their final six games of the season in 2022. Wilson was benched for Mike White late in that season.
The Jets made the big move to trade for Aaron Rodgers in the spring of 2023 and there were high hopes for Saleh’s third season. But Rodgers tore the Achilles tendon in his left leg four plays into the season and the Jets went 7-10 again with Wilson, Tim Boyle and Trevor Siemian at quarterback.
The return of a healthy Rodgers this year had expectations soaring again.
The Jets lost to the 49ers in Week 1 but then rebounded with two wins over the Titans and Patriots, the latter coming on “Thursday Night Football.”
But then the Jets bottomed out with a terrible loss to the Broncos at home. The Jets committed 15 penalties, 13 of which were accepted, including five false starts. The Jets looked like they were not ready to play and the penalties were a poor reflection on Saleh. After the game, Saleh seemed to pin the false starts on the cadence of Rodgers.
The Jets then went to London and fell behind the Vikings 17-0 early before rallying to make it a one-score game. They fell short when Rodgers threw his third interception of the game on the final series.
This loss surely irked Johnson, who was the Ambassador to the United Kingdom under Donald Trump from 2017-21. It also came with former Jets first-round pick Sam Darnold playing quarterback for the Vikings.
Ulbrich, who has been with the Jets since 2021 under Saleh, gets the first crack at proving he can turn the Jets around.
If he does not land the job full time, there are intriguing options available for next year like former Titans coach Mike Vrabel and former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who famously resigned as the Jets coach 24 years ago without ever coaching a game.
