Backup QB Mike White leads Jets to stunning win over Bengals

The chant broke out with 3:32 left in the game.

The small, but vocal MetLife Stadium crowd began screaming “Mike White, Mike White, Mike White.”

Who could have ever predicted it?

White, the Jets’ unknown backup making his first NFL start, threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns as the Jets shocked the Bengals 34-31 on Sunday afternoon.

“At first, I had to kind of listen again. I was like, ‘Are they chanting my name?’ ” White said.

Yes, yes they were.

White won over Jets fans who barely knew who he was last week when he replaced an injured Zach Wilson. Now, the question after that performance is should White hold onto the job once Wilson comes back from his knee injury if White can keep playing like this?

It might seem crazy to keep Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick, benched, but no one can deny the Jets’ offense looked better Sunday than it had all year. Heck, the offense looked better than it had in several years. White now has as many touchdown passes (4) in seven quarters as Wilson has thrown all season.

After the game, Jets coach Robert Saleh left the door open that White could be more than a short-term replacement.

Zach “Wally Pipp” Wilson?

“We’ll go day-to-day, but anything is possible, right?” Saleh said. “Anything is possible. It goes back to the theory of, the difference between Player A and Player Z is an opportunity and reps. That’s what this league is. That’s professional sports. They come out of nowhere when someone gets an opportunity. What Mike does with his opportunity … he has the world in front of him. He has to take advantage.”

That decision can wait, though. The Jets have a game Thursday night against the Colts, and Wilson will not be ready to play. White will make his second start, this one on national TV.

White’s teammates said they could see this coming from the 26-year-old who has spent most of his career on the practice squad.

“It’s Mike F–king White,” running back Ty Johnson said. “He’s a savage. He’s a dog. He’s an animal.”

The result was not just stunning because of White’s performance but also because it came a week after the Jets looked lifeless against the Patriots and the Bengals entered having handily beaten the Ravens. But White and Co. showed resiliency and pulled off a stunning upset, coming back from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

“During training camp, we talked about this football team being young,” Saleh said. “There are going to be days where we look like we should be a playoff team contending for a Super Bowl championship. There are going to be days where we don’t look like we belong on a football field. That’s youth. That’s this young team that is growing. … Is this the roller-coaster ride we’ve been talking about since training camp? Absolutely. Is this something to build off? Heck yeah. We beat a really good football team today.”

The Jets are now 2-5 and the Bengals fell to 5-3.

The Jets took the lead late in the fourth quarter after a strong sequence from both the offense and the defense. Trailing 31-20, the Jets cut into the Cincinnati lead with a 19-yard touchdown pass from White to running back Ty Johnson, who tiptoed down the sideline to make it 31-26.

On the next series, Shaq Lawson deflected a Joe Burrow pass and then intercepted it at the Bengals 14-yard line with 4:32 left in the game. It was the Jets’ first interception of the season.

White gave the Jets the lead with a 13-yard pass to tight end Tyler Kroft. The Jets then made it 34-31 when they ran their version of “Philly Special” with Jamison Crowder, after taking a flip from Elijah Moore, throwing to White for the conversion.

The defense then came up with a big stop of the Bengals. Sheldon Rankins sacked Burrow on third down, forcing the Bengals to punt. On their final possession, the Jets got a huge call with just under two minutes left when the Bengals stopped them on third-and-11 but Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton was called for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Johnson that gave the Jets a first down and allowed them to run out the clock.

“Our team was real resilient,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “There were a lot of times in that game where it could have went a different way. We’ve seen in the past games how we let some games slip away from big plays. Today, we showed what winning football looks like.”

While it was a great team win, this one will be remembered as “The Mike White Game.” White became the first Jets quarterback to throw for 400 yards since Vinny Testaverde on Dec. 24, 2000, against the Ravens. White’s final stat line was 37 of 45 for 405 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Jets set the tone early with Saleh electing to take the ball after they won the coin toss. The offense went 79 yards on 10 plays with Michael Carter scoring an 8-yard touchdown to put the Jets up 7-0. It was the Jets’ first score in the first quarter this year. White went 7-for-7 on the first drive and showed great poise. He opened the game completing his first 11 passes.

White threw two interceptions, but the Jets’ defense was able to mount a goal-line stand after the first one to lift the team. The defense had a nice bounce-back game after allowing 54 points to the Patriots, coming up with critical stops early and late in the win.

“The entire defense took it personal,” Saleh said. “You always want to take it personal, Last week was not indicative of who we are as a defense. I think it was important for those guys to just get back to Sunday and go play ball against a playoff-caliber football team. We’re capable of doing this stuff.”