Mike White was the missing ingredient for Jets’ playoff push

What the New York Jets needed — all along — was Mike White.

It sounds crazy. But it’s true.

For weeks, the Jets tried to make things work around Zach Wilson. The Jets tried letting Wilson play like Patrick Mahomes. The Jets asked Wilson to play like Jimmy Garppolo. 

The Jets tried. Wilson failed. And now, White has instantly proven he is the missing ingredient for the team’s playoff push. The Jets beat the Bears 31-10 in Week 12. White put up a sensational stat line: 22-of-28, 315 yards, three touchdowns and quarterback rating of 149.3.

"Mike was efficient with the football," coach Robert Saleh said postgame. "He did a great job. He didn’t need to be anybody but Mike White. He didn’t need to be the Greatest Show on Turf. He just needed to play within himself and I think he did that. … He made the easy look easy."

Now that we’ve seen how well White fits with the other pieces on this Jets team, it’s hard to imagine the Jets turning back to Wilson this year, even if that’s what Saleh promised. 

And the win wasn’t even really about White. It was about all the other guys. That was the point. Over the next few weeks, White won’t be the story. And that’ll be exactly what the Jets need. They don’t need their quarterback to be brilliant or bold or brazen. They don’t need him to make headlines. They just need him to be quiet and competent.

Now, there’s a caveat. (There’s always a caveat.) The Bears are among the league’s worst defenses. So that certainly helped the Jets come away from this game looking brilliant for making the switch at quarterback. Chicago was allowing the sixth-most points per game heading into this week. The Bears’ successes have mostly come as a product of quarterback Justin Fields, who did not play in this game due to a shoulder injury. 

There wasn’t much in the way of pressure on White. He didn’t need to lead a game-winning drive. He didn’t have to duel another good offense. He never had to press — he didn’t have to push himself. Everything just clicked. And in defense of Wilson, he did actually lead a few fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives.

So White will face pressure. And at some point, he will regress. There will be a week — or multiple weeks — when White looks bad. But White proved he could run the Jets system. As harsh as it sounds, that’s more than Wilson did in his weeks as a starter. The New York Jets had been actively avoiding their passing offense for weeks. They had to carry Wilson in the offense. They had to prevent him from losing the game. They won’t have to worry about that as much with White.

This week, White looked like the mechanic that the Jets’ machine needed. He oiled a squeaky wheel in Elijah Moore, who enjoyed his best game of the year with two catches, 64 yards and a touchdown. (Moore demanded a trade earlier this season after not getting enough targets.) Garrett Wilson — the man who called the Jets offense "sorry" last week — also put up an impressive game, with five catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns.

The Jets passing offense isn’t going to do this every week. They’re going to keep leaning on their ground game. They’re going to keep leaning on their defense. White, after all, struggled in a prolonged body of work in 2021, when he served in relief of Wilson last year. The difference is that Garrett Wilson has instantly looked like a competent WR1, the offensive line has proven powerful, and the running backs are gashing teams at a much higher clip. With White operating as a game-manager at quarterback, they don’t have to lean as hard on those strengths. Their passing offense might not be as much of a glaring weakness. 

In short time, the Jets could look like one of the more dangerous teams in the NFL. Because for weeks, it was easy to doubt New York.

Why? Zach Wilson. 

It was that simple. 

New York simply couldn’t make the playoffs — let alone win a playoff game — with a quarterback who was struggling so abundantly. 

If White can play half as well as he did in Week 12, New York should be able to compete against the Minnesota Vikings next week and the Buffalo Bills the week after. The Jets clearly had one missing ingredient: a competent quarterback. That’s what White showed he is, at least for a game. And that’s why the Jets should have more hope than ever that they can compete for a playoff spot.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.