FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Todd Bowles gets up every morning about the same time Manhattan bartenders are announcing last call.

He's up at 4 a.m. and arrives at the New York Jets' facility by 4:30. Until recently, he began his long days with a workout in the weight room, but he put aside his own fitness to tend to the declining health of his football team.

These days, the coach goes directly to his office and punches up game video on his screen. He figures the more video he watches, the better chance he has of unlocking a solution that will help the Jets -- losers of four straight -- emerge from their funk.

"I haven't worked out lately," Bowles said in an interview with ESPN.com. "I've been working more, trying to find ways to get us in better position. Not that I didn't always do that, but I sacrificed my workout for triple-more film time instead of double-more film time."

"The same things that got me here are going to get me out of this 1-5 slump," Todd Bowles said of the recent losing streak. "I didn't become a good coach when I was 10-6. I didn't become a bad coach now that I'm 1-5." Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Bowles has experienced losing before -- after all, he once was a Cleveland Browns assistant -- but this is different because he's in charge. This was supposed to be a playoff contender, but the Jets have the worst point differential in the NFL (minus-69). Yes, even worse than even the winless Browns.

No matter what you think of his game-day coaching, know this about Bowles: He's not rattled by the adversity and he's supremely confident in his ability to find his way out of the abyss. The dull chatter about his job security, which will get louder if they lose Sunday to the struggling and banged-up Baltimore Ravens (3-3), doesn't faze him.

"No, not at all," he said. "The same things that got me here are going to get me out of this 1-5 slump. I didn't become a good coach when I was 10-6. I didn't become a bad coach now that I'm 1-5."

In those pre-dawn hours, Bowles will grab his smart phone and tap into a file of inspirational quotes from famous people. He'll make it his personal quote of the day. He's particularly fond of John Wooden's wisdom, but on Thursday morning, a Michael Jordan quote caught his eye:

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

That became his quote of the day. It could be the quote of the month.

"You're going to run through some rough patches, but you have to stay with it," he said. "Every successful coach has failed. That's what you have to understand."

Bowles has missed a bunch of shots over the last month, as the Jets have lost each of the last four games by double digits. The most recent faux pas was the clumsy quarterback change.

Less than 24 hours after telling the world he was sticking with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bowles benched Fitzpatrick and gave the job to Geno Smith. It was announced the following day. The flip flop fueled speculation that owner Woody Johnson demanded the switch. Even if it was Bowles' decision -- and I believe it was -- it made for a bad optic.

"He shouldn't have said anything after the game," said a former general manager, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "He should've said he needs to take a hard look at it and maybe change the course. He's a young coach; he's going to make mistakes."

Bowles owned up to one tactical mistake this season, in Week 2, when he forgot to call for a two-point try late in a 37-31 win over the Buffalo Bills. He's lucky because it could've cost the Jets the game if the Bills had recovered the onsides kick and scored.

Always even-keeled on sideline, Bowles became "unkeeled," as he put it, because he took his focus off the game and started yelling at the defense on the bench.

"I got upset, I blew a call and that I remember," he said. "That teaches me a lesson: Don't try to be who I'm not.

"I have a controllable side. I call half the plays on defense with coach [Kacy] Rodgers, so it bodes well for me. It doesn't mean I can't have the same fire, the same anger and be pissed off. Believe me, I'll kick somebody in the throat in a heartbeat, but you have to control the game."

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Bowles is catching some flak for some in-game decisions, but the biggest indictment of him is the decline of the defense. Ranked fourth (yards) and ninth (points) a year ago, the defense has plummeted to 23rd and 25th, respectively. At times, they looked utterly out of sync.

Concerned by his porous secondary, Bowles deviated from his philosophy -- pressure, pressure and more pressure -- and played a pillowy soft scheme in the first five games. He reverted to his style in the last game, but it still failed to produce a takeaway. Shockingly, the Jets have only four takeaways. A year ago, they had 15 after the first six games.

"You hope you can win while you're getting your team good," Bowles said. "Last year, we were able to do that. We had some holes, but they got covered up by turnovers on both sides of the ball. We don't have the turnovers this year."

Bowles can't be blamed for Darrelle Revis' decline, a key factor in the defensive struggles, but the unit isn't devoid of talent. Most any team would love to have the Jets' defensive line, but how do you explain a combined two sacks for Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson?

Offensively, Bowles was betrayed by Fitzpatrick, who became an interception machine. The former GM lauded Bowles for making the switch to Smith.

"They had to infuse new blood," he said. "I'm not saying Geno is the answer, but at least it shows they're trying. It looks like you're accepting defeat if you do nothing. Fitzpatrick is 99 years old and he's been on six teams. He's not getting better."

Maybe Smith will provide a spark. Right now, the product on the field is "unacceptable," according to Bowles.

Until it gets fixed, he will continue to skip his 4:30 a.m. workouts to watch film. He will continue to eat unhealthy food. ("My diet sucks," he said.) He will continue to search for a solution.

"You're constantly searching for that one thing to make it click," he said. "You have to keep working at it. I'm pretty confident I'll find it. When I stop being hard-headed with myself, I'll find it."