Broncos loss was Woody Johnson’s Robert Saleh breaking point

The Robert Saleh era with the Jets came to a quick, stunning end Tuesday morning. 

Owner Woody Johnson fired Saleh, who was five games into his fourth year as head coach, just before 10 a.m. two days after the Jets lost 23-17 to the Vikings in London, their second straight disappointing loss.

The Jets named defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as the interim head coach. 

The move was surprising because of its timing.

The Jets are 2-3 and did have encouraging wins against the Titans and Patriots this season.

But Saleh, who had one year remaining on his contract, could not overcome a 20-36 overall record and the feeling from Johnson that he was not fixing what was wrong with the Jets, who entered this season with Super Bowl aspirations. 

“When I take a look at this team, I’ve been doing this for 25 years now, and this is probably the best team I’ve had in 25 years,” Johnson said in a Tuesday afternoon conference call with reporters. “And I just felt that the best way to go forward was a new direction. I thought that would get the most out of this team and give us the best chance that we all want to have, which is going to the playoffs.” 

This is the first time Johnson has made a midseason coaching change as owner.

The 77-year-old Johnson was fuming after the Jets’ 10-9 loss to the Broncos last week, according to sources.

He wanted Saleh to make radical changes.

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Saleh instead preached patience, but Johnson was out of that. 

Then, the Jets flopped in London, where Johnson served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom under former President Donald Trump from 2017-21.

Johnson had a long flight home to think about the future of the team and decided Tuesday morning to fire Saleh. 

Saleh showed up for work ready to game plan for the Bills, the Jets’ opponent on Monday night.

Shortly before 10 a.m., Johnson and his brother Christopher walked into Saleh’s office and delivered the news. Saleh wanted to say goodbye to the team, but was not given the chance.

He was asked to leave the building. 

Johnson said this decision was not made based on the last two losses, but rather Saleh’s body of work. 

“It’s not just the last two games that has precipitated this decision. It’s a longer time frame,” Johnson said. “I’ve had a couple years to think about this. And yeah, I just think we can do better. The team can do better. As the team realizes what an opportunity this is for them, I think they’re going to go to a level that we haven’t seen in a while.” 

Johnson brought Saleh back after a second consecutive 7-10 season last year with the understanding that he would be out if the team faltered this year.

Saleh expected to get a full season to make a playoff push with Aaron Rodgers, though, and only got five games. 

Sources said Johnson had grown tired of seeing the same problems with the team that had plagued it the last few years — slow starts, a high number of penalties and sloppy offensive play.

The Jets expected things to change with Rodgers at quarterback, but they still are losing with the same formula of a defense holding down an opponent and then offensive mistakes costing them games. 

The Jets did not fire offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, but sources said Saleh was preparing to take play-calling duties from him and give them to Todd Downing, the team’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, before he was fired.

Ulbrich said he will do a “deep dive” into the offensive struggles and indicated he will consider having a new play caller.

He did say he does not anticipate making any staff changes. 

“I think one of the reasons I decided to make a coaching change is exactly that: We need to find ways to win,” Johnson said. “And so we’re not going to find those ways by doing the same thing over and over and over. I think that Jeff is going to add something. He’s going to add a spark of positivity. Those changes that we have to make on offense, we’ll make. We’re going to try to get better. This is a new opportunity for all of us.” 

Johnson said he did speak to Rodgers on Monday night, but they did not discuss Saleh’s future.

There was no indication from any sources that Rodgers was involved in the decision.

Players privately expressed shock at the decision to fire Saleh. He was popular in the locker room and the players were still playing hard for him. 

Johnson said he did consult general manager Joe Douglas but Johnson emphasized this was his decision alone. This is the first in-season coaching change for the Jets since 1976, when Lou Holtz quit with one game left. 

“I’ve had enough experience doing these things,” Johnson said. “It’s the first time I’ve done it this early. I thought and think that this will help this talented team achieve the goals that the team wants and I want and the fans want.”