You spend years, maybe decades waiting for the moment your team manages to put all the pieces in place for a Super Bowl run. You spend hundreds, maybe thousands on jerseys and tickets and face paint. You endure the mocking of your more blessed fellow fans, the jokes and disrespect in the national media, the endless stream of sub-.500 seasons. You see everything coming together perfectly — dynamic receivers, shutdown defense, Hall of Fame quarterback — and then, in four plays, all hope vanishes into the New Jersey night.
What happened to the Jets organization and Jets fans Monday night when Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending injury wasn’t just a bad break.