2-9 is the very loud record of the lowly New York Jets this season - a team which was supposed to take that "next step" in their journey back to solid football team status. Who could have thought otherwise after their strong finish in 2013 under rookie QB Geno Smith, winning three of their last four?
Very painfully for Jets fans, it hasn't happened.
Just as talk heats up when teams are rolling on their way to post-season glory, it does the same when teams need a complete organizational overhaul.
With second-year general manager John Idzik and head coach Rex Ryan not getting the job done, where do the Jets go from here?
The best answer Woody Johnson needs to hear right now is this: hire real "football people" for your football jobs.
Idzik, much like Mike Tannenbaum before him, is a salary-cap guy who carved out a niche in the league with their financial savvy ways. Never has Idzik been proven to be qualified at picking personnel.
Hiring Jim Harbaugh to run the entire show would most certainly give this franchise a much needed face-lift.
It's no secret that Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers organization is at odds. Guess what most of the in-fighting is due to? Personnel control.
Giving Harbaugh complete reigns on the football side would ensure two things. One would be to provide an immediate stark contrast from financial guys running the show for the better part of the last decade, to a proven football lifer in complete control as top-dog. The other thing it would do is create tension, something Florham Park, NJ desperately needs.
Harbaugh is a proven winner and a nobody doubts he can turn around any franchise given full control.
Despite his early career success with the Jets, head coach Rex Ryan is a "players coach." The attitude and atmosphere around the club is relaxed, with a country-club type feel. Harbaugh would come in and drastically change all of that, accepting nothing but their best, and keeping everybody on their toes.
It's obvious that Idzik and Ryan have been on completely different pages since this forced marriage began. More evidence of this will come to life in the coming weeks.
While Ryan will surely be gone, Idzik still has a shot to return, with the freedom to choose his own coach. Johnson must realize though that cleaning house totally is the only way to go. The drastic decline in personnel is too much to ignore.
No more hiring one faction and forcing the other to remain. Hire one guy to entrust to lead your team to the promise land, the way Leon Hess did with Bill Parcells after that very forgettable 1-15 1996 season.
Hiring Harbaugh to coach and control personnel would provide him with the sheer power he loves and the challenge he craves. The talk that Harbaugh and his wife won't leave the West Coast is real, but offering power and money can overcome any strong sentiment. If Johnson wants Harbaugh as bad as I do, he can surely do a lot to get him.
Harbaugh is no dummy though. He realizes to win in this league you need a franchise QB, and the Jets are without one. The great play of the Cleveland Browns and Brian Hoyer, led by former friend Mike Pettine by the way, could be the best blessing in disguise the Jets ever laid eyes on. That is, if they're paying attention.
Johnny Manziel is a true football player. He's tough, gritty and possesses all the qualities that New Yorkers salivate over. He has immense potential, and because of his off-field issues, will come cheap in comparison to where he was drafted.
How would it sound to stare at a Jets organization with Jim Harbaugh and Johnny Manziel at the helm come Spring of 2015? It would be leadership consisting of two young guys in their respective professions that will fight anybody to get where they want to go, and who both still have a lot to prove.
There is no doubt about the fact that Manziel is a lighting-rod; a media outburst waiting to happen. In New York, however, a lot of that stuff can be revered, instead of scoffed at.
Think about it. If Harbaugh and Manziel are winning together in New York, then Manziel's off the field antics would be charmingly described as "Namath-like." He could be dubbed as Joe Namath reincarnated, as New Yorkers would be shouting out "Johnny Broadway." Winning is the cure of all evils.
These two most unfortunate situations for Cleveland and San Francisco are all too real. They are in the situation where certain guys will need to leave town, as others stay. If Johnson and the Jets keep their eyes open, and Harbaugh and Manziel need to find new homes, they can turn these unfortunate incidents for those two cities into a much celebrated one in New York.
All of the stars are aligning for this to transpire. Can Woody Johnson make it happen? If he does, those three entities: the Jets, Harbaugh and Manziel, would be a match made in heaven.