MINNEAPOLIS — Mike White was probably just a touchdown pass away from being the Jets’ starting quarterback for the rest of the season, no questions asked. It might be a bit harsh to call what Braxton Berrios did or didn’t do against the Vikings a drop, but those are the unforgiving rules for any given Sunday.
When you get your hands on the ball, you have to catch it. Especially in the end zone, on the street, in the last few minutes of a high stakes game.
“It’s on me,” said Berrios.
White tried to take the blame for throwing the fourth pass a little behind his receiver, crediting Berrios with breaking the planned outward route and finding the defense’s soft underbelly on the inside. That’s what a leader does. That’s what a starting quarterback does.
So when it came time to judge the Jets’ fatal mistakes in the red zone that gave the Vikings a 27-22 win, White understood that his job – Zach Wilson’s old job – required him to feel like this grabbed a mirror as quickly as possible.
“It starts with me,” he says. “You have to figure out how to get the ball into the end zone and if we can do that I think we’ll win the game today.”
A week after throwing three touchdown passes in a Bears decline, White found himself in the loud and hostile home of a very different NFC North opponent. The Vikings went into the matchup 9-2 for a reason, and the visiting quarterback, 27, found out the hard way.
Mike White watches the Jets’ loss to the Vikings on Sunday from the ground. USA TODAY Sports
White threw for 369 yards but failed to deliver any touchdown passes. He found the end zone on a fourth and goal run that counted as a score on review, but failed to finish on two late, frantic drives that could have elevated his team’s record to 8-4.
But even with a loss, and even after two interceptions (albeit both in mitigating circumstances), White only cemented his standing as the undisputed starter and strengthened his bond with his teammates. Just listen to Garrett Wilson, a potential superstar in the making, who had this to say after catching eight passes for 162 yards, including a 60-yarder that changed almost everything:
“The boy’s a dog, man. The boy really is a dog. He was out there, controlling the crowd and…never letting the moment get too big. It was cool to see. … I know I would go to war for that boy. There’s something special about him.”
Because of this, some players boarded the Jets’ plane on Saturday wearing “Mike F’n White” t-shirts. For this reason, some players went into US Bank Stadium on Sunday in Mighty Ducks jerseys, while White himself wore a Charlie Conway Ducks jersey.
Head coach Robert Saleh needs to see what happens here. Nobody wants their quarterback forced to throw 57 passes through uninspired play, some damaging penalties and a 17-point deficit late in the first half. But facts are facts:
White has now cleared 300 yards in three of his five starts and probably would have made four of five had he avoided an early injury in last year’s Colts game. Wilson has only cleared 300 yards once in 20 starts. The game just looked harder for everyone in green when Wilson was on the field.
“I thought Mike did a great job,” Saleh said. “There were a few ups and downs like you normally would [have] in a football game; They are a good soccer team. But I thought he kept his composure, stayed in the game and made some big throws.”
Mike White and the Jets lost to the Vikings on Sunday. Getty Images
White never gave up on the result and somehow scored in that fourth and goal run to reduce the deficit to five points. After being blown up on the next drive for a third miss, White fired brilliant fourth and tenth shots at Corey Davis for 31 yards. When White was given one last opportunity by defending the Jets after Berrios fell, he impressed his teammates with his poise.
“Except he was in the scrum on the last drive,” said Garrett Wilson, who declined to reveal his quarterback’s message. “It’s not exactly what he said, it’s how he said it. It didn’t seem like he was stressed about the situation. He doesn’t seem concerned or that it bothers him. He feels like we’re going to go out there and do these tracks.
“Man, it was fun to be out there today to play with him and see how he does his business. I’m just sorry we couldn’t get it done for him.”
In fourth place with the closing seconds, White had no choice but to rip it in the middle. “I didn’t want to finish with the ball in my hands,” he explained after Minnesota’s crucial interception. So be it.
Saleh punched White as the two passed each other in the post-game interview room. As much as coach Zach Wilson wants to fix, all White did on Sunday was make that process a little more irrelevant.