PITTSBURGH — Momentum is such a precious thing in sports.
It must be handled with extreme care, because it’s so elusive.
The Jets had it against the Steelers late in the first half Sunday night. They had control of the game. The Steelers were on the ropes.
The Jets were in position to right their season that had been off-kilter for the first six games, sputtering at 2-4 entering the night.
They were in position to defeat the Steelers on the road and then go to New England and take care of the lowly Patriots next Sunday and their record would be 4-4, back to .500. And then they would be on that “run’’ they’ve been talking about.
The Jets had the momentum and then they got careless with it.
Their most important, highest-profile player, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, was the guilty party in giving it away.
And the end result was a disgusting, distasteful and potentially destructive 37-15 loss at Acrisure Stadium.
It left the Jets and their fantasy football roster at 2-5 and in a four-game losing spiral.
It, too, left team owner Woody Johnson seemingly out of phone-a-friend options.
Johnson is on record touting the Jets current roster as the greatest collection of players he’s had on his team in his 24 years as its owner.
He spent the past two weeks firing his head coach, Robert Saleh, in an effort to “spark’’ the team and then this past week trading for high-profile receiver Davante Adams, who made a rather quiet Jets debut Sunday night.
Now what?
That was the Jets’ rally-cry motto last season. Now it takes on a completely different tone thanks to the gift Rodgers gave to the Steelers in this game.
Leading 15-6 and driving, Rodgers threw a pass intended for receiver Garrett Wilson into traffic in the middle of the field that was picked off by Pittsburgh cornerback Beanie Bishop Jr.
Bishop stepped in front of Wilson and plucked the ball out of the air with his left hand with 1:15 remaining in the half.
The killer turnover — Rodgers’ sixth INT in seven games this season _ led directly to a freebie touchdown for Pittsburgh.
Four plays after the turnover, the Steelers cut the Jets lead to 15-13 on an 11-yard Russell Wilson scoring pass to George Pickens, who the Jets simply could not cover all night regardless of which player was on him.
The Jets built a 15-6 lead thanks to some dynamic work from their top running back, Breece Hall, who gave them a 7-3 lead on a 13-yard scoring run on their second offensive possession.
And then, after the Steelers kicked a second field goal of the half to cut the lead to, 7-6, Hall took a short Rodgers pass over the middle and turned it into a 57-yard gain to the Pittsburgh three-yard line.
Three plays later, Rodgers connected with tight end Tyler Conklin for a 3-yard touchdown and a two-point conversion to make it 15-6.
The rest of the night was forgettable.
The Steelers took their first lead of the game, 16-15, on a 21-yard Chris Boswell field goal on Pittsburgh’s first offensive possession of the third quarter.
Then this got very ugly.
On the Jets second play from scrimmage on the ensuing series, Rodgers threw a dart to Garrett Wilson deep down the left sideline and the ball bounced off Wilson’s chest and into the arms of Bishop.
This time, Bishop returned the pick 41 yards to the Jets 1-yard line with 7:22 remaining in the third quarter.
On the INT return, Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen leveled Jets right guard Xavier Newman with a block and Newman hit the turf hard with his head and sustained a neck injury.
The game was halted for several minutes while Newman, who’d entered the game in the first half for injured starter Alijah Vera-Tucker, was tended to by doctors with most of the team surrounding him on a knee.
Newman was strapped to a stretcher and carted off.
When play resumed, Russell Wilson scored on the Steelers’ first play for a 23-15 lead.
The Jets next offensive possession stalled at the Pittsburgh 17-yard line and then slumping kicker Greg Zuerlein had a 35-yard field goal blocked by Steelers defensive lineman Dean Lowry with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter.
Zuerlein missed field goals of 43 and 32 yards in last week’s three-point loss to Buffalo and he missed a 50-yarder in the closing seconds in a 10-9 loss to Denver. He’s a mess right now, as is the Jets season.
The Steelers made the Jets pay by taking that possession and turning it into a 30-15 lead on a four-yard Russell Wilson scoring pass to Van Jefferson with 12:09 remaining in the game.
The Jets now have no momentum and little hope to this season that began with such promise.