Aaron Glenn faces his first defining moment as Jets fall to 1-3

CHICAGO — They’re a better team. Their vision. Execution. They’re healthy financially and flushed with draft capital. The construction of the roster is one that will set them up for long-term success. The Jets went from overrated toward the end of Robert Saleh‘s regime, to uncompetitive in Year 1 of Aaron Glenn‘s, to now. They flash signs of heading in the right direction.

Sure. Believe that.

But the Jets lost again on Sunday. This time to the Bears, 23-12, in a game that was not anywhere near as close as that score might indicate. They were outclassed, outplayed and outcoached.

Through four weeks, they’re 1-3. Their only win is over the lowly, winless Titans.

Spare the optimism, fixation on what might be. Stop talking and start winning.

“I’m very, very disappointed,” Glenn said.

Culture is a cliche in the NFL world — thrown around far too often. At the root of the Jets’ problems, though, is just that — their culture. It’s one of losing, grounded in years and years and years of dysfunction and a same-old-Jets mantra.

Todd Bowles thought he had changed it. Then Adam Gase. Then Saleh. Jeff Ulbrich. Now Glenn.

The problem for all is that no matter what they do differently off the field, when the losing keeps happening on it, their mentals regress to the mean. The Bears started their third quarterback in as many weeks — Tyson Bagent.

It didn’t matter. Ben Johnson, Glenn’s counterpart during their time together in Detroit, dogwalked the Jets in a week where his team didn’t bring close to its A game.

The Bears ran 89 plays (52 runs). They totaled 492 yards (232 on the ground). They picked up 34 first downs (most in franchise history). They held the ball for 42:45.

The Bears never punted. The Jets had three defensive penalties negate three interceptions.

Still, the Jets’ defense did enough to keep the score reasonable, in part because of the Bears’ own self-inflicted wounds. They kept the Bears scoreless on a drive that reached their 1-yard line. They forced field goals when the Bears reached their 12- (twice) and 3-yard lines.

The Jets responded with an offense that did absolutely nothing — uninspired, lifeless, boring. Geno Smith, so dominant a week ago in Detroit, completed 8 of 15 passes for 119 yards — 58 of it coming on a late touchdown to Isaiah Williams.

Garrett Wilson caught just three passes for 27 yards. Keyon Sadiq was shut out. Braelon Allen was the only player to run the ball (14 for 59 yards).

The Jets had seven first downs. They went 0-for-7 on third down. They had the second-worst ratio of offensive plays (32 to the Bears’ 89) in a game in NFL history.

“That today just wasn’t reflective of our standard and the excellence that we are accustomed to putting forward,” said linebacker Demario Davis.

Again: More saying, less doing.

Moral victories like last week’s close loss to the Lions only matter if you follow it with wins. The Jets didn’t do that.

This was not a step in the right direction. It was regression.

It begs the question: Why should anyone believe this team is actually headed in the right direction? What’s different now than it was before?

The Jets haven’t made the playoffs in 15 years. Every regime during this gap has gifted fans reasons to think this time might finally be different — they were approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

They’ve had money before. Draft picks before. Stars they thought put them in the class with the rest of the league. There was the 10-6 season with Bowles, and eventually drafting Sam Darnold. With Gase came Le’Veon Bell and CJ Mosley.

The Saleh era saw the additions of Sauce Gardner and Wilson and Hall.

Those players all made plays. There were games where you felt it was the start of something.

It never amounted to anything other than another reset after empty promises. Never what mattered: Wins.

That’s what makes this Jets team so hard to trust. They followed that victory against the Titans — their fans turning Nashville, Tenn., into New York south — with a mentally induced collapse to the Packers, a heartbreaking loss to the Lions, and now this outclassing to the Bears.

Things aren’t changing. It’s the same old, same old. Yet again, they’re finding ways to lose.

Now, Glenn must keep that here-we-go-again plague from penetrating the walls of 1 Jets Drive — a battle no coach has won the last decade.

To Glenn’s credit, he is different from others who have held his position on the sideline.

The only thing he cared about after the game, even when presented a chance to talk about the Jets snapping their interception drought, was that they lost.

He understands there needs to be tangible proof that his message is getting through — the Jets are on the right path. That only comes in the win column, which is what makes this one feel even worse.

Chicago is a Super Bowl contender. Even without Caleb Williams, it’s a formidable opponent.

You can stomach a loss if the Jets were in it. But the Jets didn’t even compete.

Next week, they’ll face the surprising 3-1 Browns.

“We got the biggest part of our season starting now,” Wilson said. “It didn’t start the way we wanted, but we still have everything in front of us, a special opportunity on Sunday.”

This, for Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey, is a must-win game. The Jets cannot fall to 1-4, days before traveling to New England to take on Drake Maye and the Patriots.

The Jets don’t want to make wholesale changes again. Woody Johnson, for as negative of a reputation as he’s earned during this recent run of ineptitude, will remain patient as long as he believes the course is correct.

This season began with Glenn, Mougey perceived to be on the hot seat — similar to that of Saleh during his final year. That was only partially true. Saleh, hired by brother Christopher and Joe Douglas, needed to convince Johnson that he was deserving of remaining as the coach. He didn’t, so the Jets made an in-season change.

With Glenn, it’s the opposite — prove you shouldn’t be.

There’s evidence mounting, during this three-game losing streak, that change might be needed again — from top to bottom. What technical advantage do the Jets find themselves in with Glenn? Is this roster actually improved with Mougey? Or, once again, is hope leading to an overrating of both?

For too long the Jets have pointed to everything other than their record to illustrate success. That stops now.

The Jets need to start winning.

That’s all that matters.