There are a lot of things going wrong for the New York Jets, to put it kindly. You could also say that the franchise is a madhouse.

There are owners who don’t have a lucky hand with their NFL team.

Those who focus everything on success, but to whom luck is not kind. Or who have too much bad luck. Or too little knowledge. Those who have installed the wrong people in important positions.

And then there’s Woody Johnson.

He bought the New York Jets in 2000. In 2009 and 2010, the team made it to the AFC Championship Game in each year, but the team has never made it to the Super Bowl in the Johnson era. Since 2010, the Jets have not even made it to the playoffs.

Even the signing of quarterback superstar Aaron Rodgers turned into a disaster. First the bad luck with the Achilles tendon tear in 2023, then the athletic revelation this season. 2024 will be the ninth season in a row with a negative record.

All just bad luck? A dry spell like many teams have experienced or are experiencing?

New York Jets: How big is Johnson’s share?

A report by “The Athletic” now underlines that Johnson’s share of the failure could well be greater than with other owners. It doesn’t just seem chaotic. The franchise reveals the traits of a small madhouse.

“There are organizations where everything is geared towards winning,” a player from 2023 told ‘The Athletic.’ ”It feels very different (with the Jets). It’s the most dysfunctional place you can imagine.”

The crazy thing is that Johnson put a stop to a final trade of Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy in the spring. The Jets owner didn’t think Jeudy’s player rating in “Madden NFL,” the popular video game, was high enough.

To do that, Johnson refused to sign guard John Simpson because his “awareness” rating (awareness/game intelligence) was too low. Simpson came anyway and has been a starter in every game so far.

In this context, his teenage sons Brick and Jack are also said to have a lot of influence.

New York Jets: Sons also involved

“When we discuss something, Woody quotes something that Brick or Jack read online and that is given as much weight as the opinion of anyone else in the department,” said a senior Jets executive.

They commented on it.

“It is used for reference but is not determinative,” a Jets spokesperson said of the post from Brick and Jack. ”It’s truly sad that an adult would use a misleading anecdote about teenagers to make their father look bad. It’s laughable, quite honestly, the notion that this was used to influence the opinion of experienced executives.”

The sons have no role in the organization, it continues: “It is completely ridiculous to suggest that outside information should replace the opinions of employees.”

But the two teenagers apparently have access to team areas where only the team is supposed to go. And both are said not to be contributing to a good atmosphere, but rather reinforcing a bad one.

New York Jets: “The most unpleasant, embarrassing and brutal experience”

It is said that an unpleasant scene occurred on Halloween when Rodgers had a game ball in his hand to hand it to interim coach Jeff Ulbrich for the first win.

However, Johnson’s son Brick intervened and handed wide receiver Garrett Wilson a game ball, “accompanied by a profanity-laced announcement.” Wilson had made a spectacular one-handed catch of a ball in the end zone in the game.

Woody Johnson then took the ball that Rodgers was holding and gave it to Ulbrich. Several players said the energy in the room was gone. “It was the most uncomfortable, embarrassing, and brutal experience,” one player said.

These are just a few anecdotes. The report describes Johnson primarily as impulsive, easily influenced and extremely self-confident. Based on the statements of current and former players, coaches and executives, who were interviewed anonymously, it becomes clear that Johnson is apparently an essential cause of the Jets’ problems.

Also because he feels the need to interfere. However, Johnson is not the only person in the NFL to fall for the misconception that financial wealth equals athletic expertise.

The Jets don’t just need a new coach. Or a new GM. Or a different quarterback.

The culture has to change. And that usually starts with the owner.