Josh McCown was on his way to delivering the New York Jets' first wire-to-wire quarterback season since Richard Todd in 1980, but a busted left hand ruined his storybook year and reminded everyone that good things rarely happen to those who play quarterback for the Jets.

Their history is filled with broken body parts and unfulfilled expectations: Ryan Fitzpatrick's meltdown in Buffalo, Geno Smith's jaw, Mark Sanchez's shoulder, Brett Favre's biceps tendon, Chad Pennington's rotator cuff, Vinny Testaverde's Achilles tendon, Todd's nightmare in the Miami mud and Joe Namath's knees. At least Broadway Joe's knees were good enough to deliver one Super Bowl championship. Since then, it's been nearly 50 years of bad karma.

You feel for McCown because, as he showed in his postgame news conference, he was totally invested in the team, the team, the team. Confronted with the harsh reality of having to take a seat for the rest of the season, McCown cried. It was the defining moment of the season. Suddenly, he was Testaverde in 1999 and Pennington in 2005, unlucky and unable to disguise his emotions. The Jets weren't going to make the playoffs with McCown, but they would've benefited from his leadership and the rare stability at the position.

The tears have dried and now the Jets have moved on to Bryce Petty, who gets a three-game audition to convince the team's decision makers he's worth keeping around in 2018. They're hoping he learned a lot from being at McCown's side.

"His energy is always high," wide receiver Jermaine Kearse said Monday of McCown. "He comes to work every day with his hard hat on, whether it's in the film room or at practice. He comes to work every day with a purpose to get better. That's something we have to continue to build around here."

Todd Bowles is an old-school coach who usually doesn't show much emotion when it comes to injuries, but he was clearly effected by McCown's situation -- a fractured hand that will require season-ending surgery. After gushing about McCown during a conference call with reporters ("His leadership meant a lot from the time he walked in the door"), Bowles took it to another level during his weekly spot on ESPN New York 98.7.

"He's definitely one of my most favorite players," he told The Michael Kay Show, ranking McCown among his top five favorites in 17 years of coaching.

McCown, 38, will be a free agent after the season, so his future is uncertain. Does he want to play another year? (Some in the organization believe he does.) Do the Jets want him back? They have some tough quarterback decisions to make. If the plan is to invest a high draft pick in a quarterback, perhaps Josh Allen or Baker Mayfield, it makes sense to re-sign McCown in the familiar "bridge" role. He'd be a terrific mentor for a wild stallion such as Mayfield.

For now, McCown likely will spend the last three weeks coaching up Petty and Christian Hackenberg. He deserved a better ending, a chance to go the distance for the first time in his 15-year career, but that old hand of fate reached out and broke his.