CHICAGO — Nobody would have been surprised if Sam Darnold came out and played a terrible game on Sunday against the Bears.

He was without his two top receivers, Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson. Starting center Spencer Long didn’t play, either. And Darnold was facing one of the better defenses in the league with the wind gusting at Soldier Field.

But Darnold wasn’t terrible in Sunday’s 24-10 loss to the Bears. He wasn’t even bad. He was just OK. And if Jets fans are looking for some hope in what has become a frustrating season, that should provide solace.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the ups and downs of a season, to feel as if Darnold’s growth is not where it should be because the results aren’t there right now. But Darnold’s performance on Sunday shouldn’t sound the alarms. He went 14 of 29 with 153 yards and one touchdown. And he did it with an offense that had five false starts and no viable No. 1 receiver on the field.

"I thought there was some good things that I did," Darnold said. "But at the same time there are obviously some plays that I would like to have back."

He was average in a terrible situation.

Eight games into the season, Darnold has had some bad games. His 17 for 42, three-interception performance against the Vikings was the worst. But he hasn’t had a meltdown game. He’s still looked far better as a quarterback than Geno Smith or Mark Sanchez did at this time.

Through eight games of his rookie year, Sanchez had eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a good team that would eventually reach the AFC Championship game. Through the first half of his rookie year, Smith had eight touchdowns and 13 interceptions for a bad team. Darnold, who is playing for a team that probably isn’t very good, has 11 touchdowns and 10 picks.

Some will argue that Darnold’s development is being hurt because he doesn’t have enough weapons to throw to. But any type of growth comes with adversity. If Darnold can endure this time with an inept offense, he may come out the better side ready to capitalize when he gets some of his key weapons back.

Road disaster

The Jets have become a terrible road team under coach Todd Bowles. Sunday’s loss dropped them to 1-3 on the season away from the Meadowlands and 2-10 on the road since the start of last season. The only team in the NFL that’s been worse on the road during that stretch? The Cleveland Browns (0-12).

“I’m not sure what it is,” defensive end Leonard Williams said. “I’m not sure if it’s lack of focus. I don’t know if it’s the crowd. I don’t know if it’s just being unfamiliar with our surroundings or something. I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Since their blowout win over the Lions on Monday night in Detroit, the Jets have dropped three straight road games. They still have four road games left: a trip to play the Titans, and all three of their divisional road games. And the Jets know if they want to turn their season around, they need to figure out how to win away from home starting this weekend in Miami.

“It’s going to be hard to have a winning season if you can’t win on the road,” Williams said. “With that being said we’re going to figure out the reason we’re not winning on the road and try to correct it.”

Must win?

Less than 30 minutes after Sunday’s loss to the Bears the Jets had already turned their attention to Sunday’s game in Miami. And they aren’t shying away from the importance of it.

“It’s a must win,” cornerback Morris Claiborne said. “By any means, we have to win this game.”

A loss would drop the Jets to 3-6 and essentially end any chance they have to contend for a playoff spot. A victory would revitalize them, pulling them to 4-5 with a winnable home game against the Bills and the chance to get to .500 before their bye.

“I mean, this is a huge game,” Williams said. “We have two losses in a row right now and we’re trying to get off this streak.”

But no player was emphatic as Claiborne.

“We have to win this week,” he said.

Where are the takeaways?

After starting the season with 16 takeaways in six games, the Jets haven’t forced a single turnover in each of their last two games — and, not surprisingly, both have been losses.

Takeaways are hard to predict, can come in bunches and have a lot to do with the other team.

But here’s a telling number: Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw three interceptions in his last two games before facing the Jets and was held without a turnover.

“It’s tough man, not winning the turnover battle,” safety Jamal Adams said.”Obviously, they didn’t get a turnover, but at the time in close games like this with the environment and the weather, it’s a tough, tough matchup, an aggressive, run-the-ball, milk-the-clock type game, we’ve got to create those turnovers. So as a defense, we didn’t do our job by creating those turnovers and I think it could have been a difference in the game.”

Snap counts

►Rookie Trenton Cannon fully stepped into Bilal Powell’s role, taking 29 snaps the most of any Jets running back on the day. Isaiah Crowell took 25 snaps.

►Jonotthan Harrison played all the snaps at center. Starter Spencer Long was available, but Bowles said only for emergency as he tries to recover from knee and finger injuries.

►Jermaine Kearse was on the field the most of the receivers, playing 52 of the 54 offensive snaps. Deontay Burnett, who two weeks ago was on the practice squad, was the team’s leading receiver (61 yards) and played the second most snaps of any receiver (41 snaps for 76 percent). It just goes to show that the Jets’ depth at wide receiver is non existent. New addition Rishard Matthews played only 19 snaps (35 percent).

►Jets tight ends played much less on Sunday, which is strange because the tight end group is deep and the receivers are so banged up. Chris Herndon played only half the offensive snaps (26), Jordan Leggett played 12 snaps (22 percent) and Neal Sterling played 11 snaps (20 percent) before leaving the game with a concussion and Eric Tomlinson played six snaps (11 percent). Against the Vikings all four Jets tight ends played at least 30 percent of the snaps

►Safety Marcus Maye played all 66 defensive snaps, missing only one game with a broken thumb. He looked to be wearing a padded glove on his right hand.

►Safety Jamal Adams missed his first snap of the season after getting shaken up in the fourth quarter. On that play, Jordan Howard ran for 24 yards setting up the game-sealing touchdown.

Email: vasqueza@northjersey.com

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