1968, 1969, 1998, 2002.
What do these years have in common?
The answer: They are the only four years the New York Jets won their division. 65 seasons of Jets/Titans football have kicked off and concluded, yet there were just four in which the Jets and their fans could call themselves Division Champions (2 AFL East and 2 AFC East).
The phrase “always the groomsman and never the groom” doesn’t begin to tell the story. A better description would be “always the weird cousin invited to the wedding and never the groom.”
Following the departure of Tom Brady from the AFC East in 2020, the division was wide open for the first time in two decades.