The 1991 New York Jets season was the 32nd season for the team and the 22nd in the National Football League. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 6–10 record from 1990 under head coach Bruce Coslet. The Jets finished the season with a record of 8–8, qualifying for a playoff berth in the last game of the season. They were defeated in the Wild Card round by the Houston Oilers by a score of 17–10.
In 2004, Football Outsiders Mike Tanier named the 1991 New York Jets as one of the "worst playoff teams ever":
Bruce Coslet's Jets really had no business in the postseason. They started the season 1-3 and ended it 1-3. In between, they had some big wins, like a 41-23 victory over the Dolphins, but they also gave the Colts their only win of the year. Ken O'Brien threw for 3,300 yards but just 10 touchdowns, as he displayed a knack for the redzone interception. At 7-8, they faced an 8-7 Dolphins team with a Wild Card bid on the line. As fate would have it, the Jets would walk away with a 23-20 overtime victory and a postseason birth. They would lose to the Oilers, 17-10, in the Wild Card round.
That Jets team had a lot of young talent, including Blair Thomas, Mo Lewis, Rob Moore, and Terance Mathis. They would add Jeff Blake and Johnnie Mitchell the following year. Unfortunately, that team also had Coslet. The Jets went 4-12, then 8-8, then switched to Pete Caroll, then (ugh) Rich Kotite . Thomas and Mitchell never developed. Moore, Mathis and Blake would have their best seasons elsewhere. This wasn't a team going places; it was a team that tripped into the playoffs by accident.
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