New York Jets

The franchise began in 1960 as the New York Titans, one of the charter members of the American Football League. Owned by Harry Wismer, a colorful broadcaster with more ambition than money, the Titans played at the aging Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan before sparse crowds. Wismer's financial difficulties nearly sank the franchise — at one point players' paychecks bounced, and the AFL itself had to take over operations of the team.

Despite the chaos off the field, the Titans were moderately competitive, going 7-7 in their first two seasons before declining. But the franchise's survival was in doubt, and only a change in ownership could save it. In 1963, a five-man syndicate led by David "Sonny" Werblin purchased the team, renamed them the Jets, and moved them to Shea Stadium. Professional football in New York was about to get interesting.

Sonny Werblin understood that professional sports was show business, and his most spectacular production was signing Alabama quarterback Joe Namath to a then-unprecedented $427,000 contract in 1965. "Broadway Joe" was more than a football player — he was a cultural icon, a fur-coat-wearing, media-savvy superstar who brought glamour and attention to a league that desperately needed both.

On January 12, 1969, Namath delivered on his famous guarantee, leading the Jets to a stunning 16-7 victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The upset didn't just win a championship for the Jets — it validated the entire American Football League and paved the way for the merger with the NFL. It remains the most consequential single game in NFL history.

The post-Super Bowl years were a slow decline. Namath's knees were deteriorating, the roster aged, and the franchise couldn't sustain its championship-level play. By the mid-1970s, the Jets were mired in mediocrity, and Namath was traded to the Rams for his final season in 1977. But the memory of that guarantee — and the swagger it represented — became the franchise's eternal touchstone.

The post-Namath decades were a mixed bag of occasional brilliance and sustained frustration. The 1982 Jets, coached by Walt Michaels and powered by the "New York Sack Exchange" defensive line of Mark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, and Abdul Salaam, reached the AFC Championship Game before losing to the Dolphins. It was a tantalizing glimpse of what might be.

The Ken O'Brien-at-quarterback era of the mid-1980s produced some entertaining football but no deep playoff runs. The late 1980s under Joe Walton were forgettable. The early 1990s under Bruce Coslet were worse. The franchise seemed trapped in a cycle of rebuilding that never quite reached its destination.

Rich Kotite's catastrophic two-year tenure (1995-1996) — during which the Jets went 4-28 — represented the absolute nadir. The team was so bad that it felt like a parody of professional football. But rock bottom has a way of creating the conditions for rebirth, and the Jets were about to make a hire that would change the franchise's fortunes, at least temporarily.

Bill Parcells arrived in 1997 and immediately transformed the Jets from laughingstock to contender, going 9-7 and reaching the playoffs in his first season. His successor, Bill Belichick, famously resigned as "HC of the NYJ" after one day on the job to take the Patriots position — a decision that would haunt the Jets for the next two decades.

Herman Edwards replaced Belichick and brought his infectious enthusiasm, leading the Jets to the playoffs in 2001, 2002, and 2004. Edwards was followed by Eric Mangini and then Rex Ryan, whose brash, trash-talking style made the Jets compelling theater. Ryan's first two seasons (2009-2010) produced consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances behind a dominant defense and the ground-and-pound running attack, with Mark Sanchez at quarterback. The Jets came agonizingly close to the Super Bowl both years, losing to the Colts and then the Steelers.

But those back-to-back championship game runs proved to be a mirage. The roster was older and more expensive than it appeared, and the Jets quickly regressed once the talent eroded.