Mike Celizic

This Brett Favre thing isn’t working out the way the Jets and their long-suffering fans expected. At the moment, it isn’t working out at all.

It was easy to see why on Monday in the Chargers' 48-29 win over the Jets. It was the perfect test case for the great Favre experiment that breathed so much excitement into a moribund Jets franchise. Both teams came in desperately needing both to make a statement and to win a football game.

The Chargers passed the test with flying colors. The Jets and their famous and Hall-of-Fame-bound quarterback didn’t. And they didn’t just lose. They were annihilated.

For all Favre brought to the table, he may as well have been Vinny Testaverde out there for the Jets, a big guy with a big arm and a big ability to throw the ball where it shouldn't be thrown. There were touchdowns for Favre. There were also interceptions. But there was no magic to it, no sense that the Jets had finally found the piece that would complete their puzzle.

Don’t get me wrong here. Favre played well Monday. He completed a lot of passes for a lot of yards. The interceptions were the result of one great defensive play and one mix-up between Favre and his receiver.

But the Jets were utterly outclassed by the Chargers, as they should have been. The Chargers have LaDainian Tomlinson. The Jets have Thomas Jones. The Chargers have Antonio Gates. The Jets have Chris Baker. The Chargers have a very good defense. The Jets don’t.

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People should have recognized all of this when Favre came to Jets camp and the team’s fans started talking about the playoffs and even the Super Bowl. But nobody wanted to know from reality back then. They were too wrapped up in fantasy, as if the NFL is just a big rotisserie game and all that boring stuff about defense and complimentary players and learning the play book has nothing to do with winning football games.

Guess what. All that stuff matters.

It matters that Favre arrived during camp and never had time to fully absorb the playbook and get on the same page with his receivers. It matters that the Jets’ defense is not up to the task of stopping Matt Cassel let alone a highly talented outfit like the Chargers. It matters that the Jets don’t have a premier running back or a premier tight end or a premier receiver. It matters that the Jets aren’t a great football team.

If Favre had arrived in February or March and had a full offseason to work with the coaches on developing a playbook, lift weights with his teammates, throw passes to his receivers, it would have been different. Lost in all the excitement over his mid-summer arrival was the fact that even great quarterbacks need time to learn a system and get on the same page with their receivers.

And the Jets’ problem is that neither they nor Favre have that time. Favre is 38, and the clock is winding down on his career. The Jets got him to win now, but they didn’t have the rest of the pieces to make them a complete football team.

It would be different if the Jets had a great defense and all the pieces to win except for a quarterback to run the show. But they don’t have a defense that can stop even Matt Cassel and they don’t need a quarterback to run the show, they need one to be the show.

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And there isn’t the quarterback alive who can do that, not with this team, not with this defense, not with this offense.

The Jets will win games, but not many. They barely eked out a win over the Dolphins in Week 1, got beat by the Patriots and Cassel and now have been crushed by the Chargers on Monday night. Both teams were desperate for a win, the Chargers to save their season, the Jets to show that their grand experiment would pay immediate dividends.

The Chargers did what they had to do. They, like the Jets, are now 1-2, but to suggest there’s any similarity between those identical records is to deny what you saw with your own eyes. The Chargers are still in this race, just as the Giants were last year when they started 0-2 and finally righted their ship. The Jets are already out of it.

Favre came to be the savior. Instead, he appears doomed to be the old quarterback who ends his career trying in vain to make a bad team good.

He may as well be Vinny Testaverde.

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 4 games STEELERS 23, RAVENS 20, OT: Baltimore loses first game of season REDSKINS 26, COWBOYS 24: Dallas can't contain Portis in 1st loss BEARS 24, EAGLES 20: Goal-line stand boosts Chicago JETS 56, CARDINALS 35: Favre throws career-high 6 TDs BUCS 30, PACKERS 21: Ryan's 3 FGs lift Tampa CHARGERS 28, RAIDERS 18: San Diego tops rival 10th straight time BILLS 31, RAMS 14: Buffalo 4-0 for first time since 1992 CHIEFS 33, BRONCOS 19: Johnson rushes for 198 yards for K.C. BROWNS 20, BENGALS 12: Anderson throws TD TITANS 30, VIKINGS 17: Tennessee 4-0 for first time ever PANTHERS 24, FALCONS 9: Smith honors Lucas after TD JAGUARS 30, TEXANS 27, OT: Scobey kicks game winner SAINTS 31, 49ERS 17: McAlister scores first TD of year

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