GLENDALE – Only the Jets could promise their tortured and tormented faithful a season of hope and high expectations and turn it into a Butt Fumble.

Only the Jets could turn a planned Desert Storm into a regular-season Mud Bowl.

So there was Aaron Rodgers, face down early in the third quarter at the Arizona 9-yard line as State Farm Stadium roared after failing twice on second-and-goal from the 3 and losing a fumble on a bag and enough of his brain to require a visit to the tent for an examination.

At that point it was the Cardinals 24, Jets 6 and on track to Cardinals 31, Jets 6.

Rodgers was brought here with such Savior fanfare to win these games, to laugh in the face of adversity, to lift up all the Jets in their desperate hour, and to inspire confidence in his group and his entire team.

And so the long, agonizing flight home carried a future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback and a season he failed to save and a team and franchise he was powerless to save of herself.

Even Old Rodgers, quarterback from Dead Team Walking.

Team dysfunction, take a bow.

Woody Johnson, take a bow. The firing of Robert Saleh did not work. Acquiring Davante Adams and Haason Reddick didn’t work out.

And Aaron Rodgers didn’t work.

The Pass-Fail grade: Fail.

The visions of super grandeur were an illusion and an illusion.

And so the long, agonizing flight home carried a future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback and a season he failed to save and a team and franchise he was powerless to save of herself.

The 3-7 Jets are still mathematically alive.

But not mentally, emotionally or spiritually.

Dead Team Walking — limping, crawling — toward a 14th straight season without a playoff berth.

A 40-year-old quarterback isn’t the same old Rodgers and a failed season left stranded in the desert.

The Cardinals were the most desperate team. It’s shameful. The Cardinals wanted more. It’s shameful. The Cardinals were the more physical team. The Jets were the softer team.

This so-called Dream Team is a nightmare for every Jets fan.

There was no oasis in the desert for Rodgers, no fountain of youth to make him look and feel Forever Young.

He has relieved teams in their most desperate hours, but not this one, not now.

His 40-year-old body had been energized by the 10 days of rest, and the Jets were optimistic that this would be the start of a deep playoff run.

The offensive line, exhausted against the Texans, had returned intact.

Adams and Garrett Wilson were ready to catch fire again.

Even Old Rodgers, quarterback from Dead Team Walking.

Rodgers unnecessarily targeted Adams twice in the first half, once throwing him away due to an obvious miscommunication, and twice more in the end zone in the third quarter.

Kyler Murray played with the Jets defense, aptly known as Gang Green, which was undisciplined and often incapable of tackling in a professional manner. Murray threw for 199 yards in the first half. Rodgers, trying to establish the running game, threw for 40 yards.

The Jets showed no fight even after Quincy Williams sent Murray’s helmet flying with a violent sack midway through the second quarter.

Here’s how the Jets defense responded: Murray, on third-and-10, hit TE Trey McBride for 13 yards, and Murray found Marvin Harrison Jr. to DJ Reed with the 9-yard TD and it was 21-6.

There had already been pass interference from Reed in the end zone to set up Murray’s 1-yard TD jog around the left end, with Sauce Gardner getting passed over on a 17-yard gain on third-and-7 by McBride, a missed tackle by Jalen. Mills on a 44-yard reception from James Conner.

And the Jets knew who Murray was.

“On one hand, he can make every throw on the field,” safety Jalen Mills said. “For two, once he gets out of the pocket, he’s no longer a quarterback, he’s a running back who has 4.3 speed, which makes him very, very dangerous when you don’t have of control over him. So as a defense as a whole, we’re going to need 11 to contain this guy and keep him in the pocket, which is going to be difficult.

Murray finished 22-24-1 TD with two rushing TDs.

“He does crazy things when he gets out of that pocket, man,” Javon Kinlaw said.

And they knew who Conner was.

“A guy tackling with one arm isn’t going to bring him down,” Mills said. “It’ll take 11. It’s got to be a gang-tackle play, all three levels have to take him down, don’t just rely on one guy to take him down.”

Conner caught five passes for 80 yards with one rushing touchdown.

“I know James Conner very well,” Kinlaw said. “He is definitely one of the THE the most physical running backs in the league, that’s for sure.

“You just have to put bodies on him at all times. When you attack him in a group you just have to do it over and over again and I feel like that’s going to wear him out a little but there’s only so much you can do, man he’s just a big football player. »

Even Old Rodgers, quarterback from Dead Team Walking.