ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It was a perfectly fitting end.
For the Jets.
For the Bills.
And finally, for Highmark Stadium — home to the Bills for 53 seasons — it was almost certainly the final game before the team moves across the street into its shiny new venue.
The final score — Bills 35, Jets 8 — was of little relevance.
The result, however, was.
The loss for the Jets, coupled with the Giants win over the Cowboys earlier in the day, assured the Jets with the No. 2 overall pick in April’s draft.
The loss left them with a 3-14 record, their third-worst record in franchise history. It ties for the second-most losses in a season in franchise history. They were 2-14 in 2020 under then-coach Adam Gase and were 1-15 in 1996 under the watch of Rich Kotite.
The Jets have had double-digit losses in 26 of their 66 seasons in existence (39 percent), including nine of the past 10.
Futility rules with this franchise.
The Jets had long ago clinched a 10th consecutive season with a losing record. Their last playoff berth was 15 years ago, the 2010 season.
This season had long ago devolved into a race for the highest draft pick. This really all Jets fans have had any interest in for weeks. Now they have their answer.
Picking second assures the Jets of landing at least the second-best quarterback available in the draft, very possibly Oregon’s Dante Moore should he choose to declare for the draft after he’s done with the College Football Playoffs.
The Raiders, who’ve been in overt tank mode for weeks, secured the No. 1 overall pick, so they’ll almost certainly draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Let’s make no mistake about the Jets, though, as they’ve been shamelessly tanking for weeks as well, starting undrafted rookie quarterback Brady Cook for the final four games.
Cook, who finished 11-of-22 for 60 yards and a touchdown Sunday, has shown himself as someone not ready to be an NFL player. He looked completely anemic running the Jets offense.
The saddest part to this loss for the Jets was the fact that their starters could not even compete with the Bills backups, which is mostly who they played in the game on both sides of the ball.
Buffalo star quarterback Josh Allen played the first snap from scrimmage to continue his cheapened streak of 122 consecutive starts and then trotted off to the sideline for the rest of the game.
Starting running back James Cook III ran the ball twice for 15 yards on the first series and took the rest of the game off.
Backups filled most of the rest of the spots on both sides of the ball for Buffalo. And still the Jets could not compete.
Adding insult to injury for the Jets was former Jets running back Ty Johnson scoring on a 6-yard run to give the Bills a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
More insult: The Jets defense was carved up by Allen’s backup, Mitch Trubisky, who went 22-for-29 for 259 yards and four touchdowns.
Trubisky, who hadn’t started an NFL game since 2023 and hadn’t won a game as a starter since 2022, was 15-for-19 for 169 yards and two TDs in the first half, capping the opening drive with a 17-yard scoring pass to tight end Dawson Knox for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Bills took a 21-0 lead on a 2-yard Trubisky TD pass to Ray Davis in the second quarter and that’s where it stood at the half.
On Buffalo’s first possession of the second half, they made it 29-0 on a 2-yard Trubisky TD pass to Gabe Davis followed by a 2-point conversion because Buffalo kicker Matt Prater was out with a leg injury.
When the Bills made it 35-0 on Trubisky’s fourth TD pass of the game, this one a 50-yarder to Ty Johnson with 12:05 still remaining in the game, the Jets crept closer to breaking two terrible franchise records.
Entering Sunday, the most points the Jets had ever allowed in a season was 504 in 2021. And the worst point differential in team history was 214 in 1976 and 2020.
That second Johnson score made for 503 points allowed, one point shy of the record, and a point differential of 211, three points shy of the record.
The Jets averted the embarrassment of breaking those two records when Cook connected with fullback Andrew Beck on a 3-yard TD to avoid the shutout with 7:33 remaining in the game.
The most disgusting element to this loss was the fact that the Jets, for the fifth consecutive week, were noncompetitive. This was all their head coach Aaron Glenn asked of his team this past week was to compete.
It’s difficult to watch this team play without feeling sorry for the entire organization. It’s that pathetic.
The Jets entered the game having been outscored by a combined score of 153-46 in their previous four games. That minus-107 point differential was the worst by a team in any December in NFL history.
On Sunday, that got even worse as they became the first team in NFL history to lose five consecutive games by 23 or more points.
Where this ends nobody knows, but the No. 2 pick in the 2026 draft alone certainly isn’t going to save this floundering franchise.
