Jets remain defiant after flopping at Bears: ‘This thing is not broken.’ But is it?

CHICAGO — The Jets on Sunday gave back all the progress they made during their two-game winning streak earlier this month, as they lost for a second straight week, this time at the Bears, 24-10. 

The Jets’ impotent offensive showing — 207 yards and 3 of 14 on third down, with key contributors Bilal Powell, Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson out — sealed their fate and dropped them to 3-5 at the season’s midpoint. 

They are 3-5 at the midpoint for the third straight year. Surely, another 5-11 finish will send coach Todd Bowles packing. Acting owner Christopher Johnson needs to see more progress than that. 

But outside linebacker Brandon Copeland, at least, remains confident that the Jets can still make something of this season, even as it appears to be spiraling. He also understands that confidence alone will do little for the Jets, and that they need to start producing some results.

“This thing is not broken,” he said. “We have talent. We have potential. Now it’s about turning that potential into reality. We can speak about how great we can be – myself included – but at the end of the day, who are you today? That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to turn that page of being who we want to be.” 

Copeland doesn’t believe the season is getting away from the Jets because they have played just one AFC East game so far — a home loss to the Dolphins. 

“No, not at all,” he said. “Five losses, but we’ve played one division game so far. We have our division in front of us. We also have a lot of games to play. We have half of a season left. This is not the end of the world.

Takeaways from Jets’ loss at Bears

“Now, if we had already played half of our division schedule and we had lost all those games, then yeah, it would be getting away from us. But we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us.” 

That makes next week’s trip to the Dolphins “huge,” said Copeland. 

“From now on, I think it’s must win,” he said. “Every division game is a playoff game for us, and we need to treat it as such. And we will treat it as such.” 

Darryl Slater may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.