Braelon Allen was pressed into duty as the Jets' RB1 at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday with Breece Hall inactive because of a quad injury he sustained in Week 3. Though the entire offense was hamstrung by the limited opportunities from only 32 plays on offense, Allen battled his way to 59 yards on 14 carries (4.2 per).

"I thought Braelon did a pretty solid job as far as running the ball, but obviously, we have to try to get ourselves back in the game at a certain point and get the ball to those guys," said HC Aaron Glenn, referring to WR Garrett Wilson and others. He added: "I thought the run game showed itself, something that wasn't good the past two games."

Trailing by 10 points to start the second half, the rugged Allen carried the ball on 5 straight plays for 21 yards as the Jets moved into plus territory before the drive stalled. But Allen, in his third season with the Green & White, on Monday stood tall as he engaged in some self-criticism.

"I'm very hard on myself and I've got to say I feel like I let the team down," he said. "In the first half, I had two errors on blitz pickup. I felt personally that hindered us from getting the pass game going. Obviously, I know the type of quarterback [Geno Smith] that we have and the weapons [Garrett Wilson et. al.] that we have outside. And when I don't do my part we can't make plays, so I put that on myself, and I think that's a big reason the pass game started so slow."

C Josh Myers was having none of it from a teammate he called "a great dude."

"Really smart football player, and that was uncharacteristic of him, and I have a ton of respect for that," Myers said. "I didn't know that he told you guys [reporters] that, but I have a ton of respect for him for taking that [on himself]. That's not ever been an issue with him before, and I don't see it being one moving forward."

HC Aaron Glenn: 'We Take It Week to Week'
Sunday's Week 5 game against visiting Cleveland presents a contrast in early-season results. The Jets won their first game, at Tennessee, and have lost three straight games. In contrast, the Browns started with a loss at Jacksonville and have won three straight close contests.

For Jets HC Aaron Glenn there's no looking to the past through the rearview mirror. There's only the view from the big front windshield that frames his reference. One game at a time may sound like a cliché, but Glenn and his players know well that the NFL is a week-to-week league.

"There's some things that we have to work on, but man, I want to look at the positive side of it and continue to build on those things that we did a good job of," Glenn told reporters Monday morning. "So, the only thing that we're doing now is we take it week to week.

"We want to be one and zero, and that's it. And I'm not just saying about games. In practice Wednesday, we want to be one and zero. Thursday, we want to be one and zero. Then once we get to the game, we want to be one and zero. We want to continue that as we progress through the season."

Running back Braelon Allen echoed his coach.

"Really [it's] just been about closing that gap and finding a way to come out with these close games on top," Allen said. "Just going one and zero every day, finding something to improve on."

DT Jowon Briggs: 'Eliminate' Those 'Golly' Plays
In Chicago the Jets' defensive front had a single sack, by LB Demario Davis, of QB Tyson Bagent as the Bears ran for more than 200 yards and 7 explosive plays of 20-plus yards. The unit did, however, hold Chicago to 2 TDs in its 7 trips inside the red zone and had 2 takeaways (an INT and a fumble recovery), which could have been 5 had it not been for penalties on apparent INTs.

"Me, I mean, I say it kind of mirrors how I played," said DT Jowon Briggs, who had 4 tackles and a TFL. "There are some great things we did defensively, but man, there were some plays where I'm like: 'Golly, I shouldn't have shot up field there. Golly, I should just held my gap just a little bit better.' And you know, disappointingly to say, it was those couple plays where you say, golly are the plays that really get you.

"For instance, I got cut out of my gap. One play, that's an explosive run right there, and that's not helping the defense. ... We need to eliminate those plays where you're looking at and saying, 'golly,' because overall, I'm very confident in our defense and how we do things around here."