The heat will be on the entire Jets franchise when they begin their quest to make the playoffs for the first time since 2010, but a few of them will feel it a little more than the others. So SNY made a list of the 5 Jets who'll be under the most pressure this season.

No. 5 was running back Le'Veon Bell. No. 4 was defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. No. 3 was safety Jamal Adams.

The countdown continues with No. 2 …

Head coach Adam Gase

Adam Gase wasn't a conventional choice to be the Jets' head coach in 2019, nor was he really a popular one. He had just been fired by a division rival 11 days earlier. And he came with a three-year record of just 23-25.

So he clearly had a lot to prove right from the start, which is why it was really strange four months after he was hired that he won a power struggle with Jets GM Mike Maccagnan and had significant input in hiring his successor. That all seemed like a really questionable choice when Gase's first season with the Jets got off to a disastrous 1-6 start.

There were reasons for all of that, of course. First, it's a good strategy to have a coach and GM who can work together, as Gase and new GM Joe Douglas apparently can, even if it was odd that the Jets would chose to fire the GM who had just hired their coach. And during the season, Gase never had a shot at success, losing his starting quarterback following the opener and his backup quarterback in Week 2. Even after Sam Darnold returned to action, his bout with mono insured he wasn't the same quarterback for much of the first half of the year. And that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the Jets' injuries and issues were concerned.

But are those reasons or excuses for a bad first year? And does Gase deserve credit for the 6-2 finish that let the Jets finish at 7-9?

This season should answer those questions. In many ways, it has to answer it. And if things go awry again, it could answer the question of just how tied Douglas feels to Gase. Would the GM get rid of his friend, the coach who was instrumental in getting him his own job? If things fall apart, will he even have a choice?

Who knows what Gase has to prove to Douglas? But he sure does have a lot to prove to everyone else, including his players and especially a legion of skeptical Jets fans. He needs to prove his offense works. He needs to prove he can be a winning coach in the NFL. If not, this could turn out to be his last chance with the Jets. Maybe his last chance as a head coach in the NFL, too.

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