Set with the wreckage of an Ashes whitewash still looming large in the background, England first contrived to lose 1-0 to Sri Lanka for their first early summer series defeat since their introduction in 2000.
The decisive match at Headingley was very nearly saved by a last-wicket partnership between Moeen Ali and James Anderson.
But, having performed several great escapes in the recent past, this England team was unable to complete the job, and Anderson fell to the penultimate ball of the match for a 55-ball duck.
Worse was yet to come. Following a terribly dull draw at Trent Bridge in which barely three innings were completed, England invited the touring Indians to play on a made-to-order green-top at Lord's.
It was indeed the greenest Test pitch seen in England for years, and everything seemed to be going to plan when the hosts won the toss and chose to field.
Middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane then surprised everyone however, racking up a century as India posted a first innings total of 295.
England still took a narrow innings lead of 24, thanks to a Gary Ballance ton - but India batted well in their second innings too, and the hosts were set a tricky target of 319 to win.
By the end of day four, it already looked unlikely. Cook had failed again and England had stumbled to 105-4.
And, though a quiet morning session on day five offered hope, Ali was bounced out by Ishant Sharma in the last ball before the interval.
It was a frightening taste of things to come as, after lunch, England collectively engaged in surely some of most truly brainless cricket ever seen at Lord's.
Matt Prior, Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad all fell to a stock short delivery from Sharma as the Indian quickie collected his Test best figures of 7-74.
SkySports pundit and legendary fast bowler Bob Willis later commented: "I've seen fewer hookers on a Saturday evening."
And it was indeed a case of having to laugh, or else you would cry - and, as often is the case in these situations, the innings ended with an appropriately comical run out.
Rock-bottom had finally been reached. Yes, the Ashes whitewash had been spectacular and a big surprise, given the 3-0 home win immediately beforehand.
But it also happened in the dead of the night and, in Mitchell Johnson, the Aussies had a ghoulish paceman who is still liable to give English batsmen nightmares even now.
By contrast, the defeats to Sri Lanka and India had been suffered at home, the green, green grass of home in the case of Lord's. Conditions could not have been more favourable.
Of course, not everything could be laid at captain Cook's door - and Prior's withdrawal in the wake of defeat in the second Test meant, in space of 12 months, almost half of the England team had been replaced.
For various reasons, the team's number three Jonathan Trott, their best batsman Kevin Pietersen, spinner Graeme Swann and wicket-keeper Prior were all now absent from the first XI.
However, the blame on Cook came largely from his continual use of negative fields which meant the plentiful lower order opposition runs of the winter had carried on into the summer.
Worse, his own form with the bat had been woeful over an extended period of time and, frankly, it just looked as if he badly needed a break from the game.
Yet, in the face of calls for his resignation from former captains Alec Stewart and Michael Vaughan, Cook vowed to continue in the lead role.
And, as he did so, the luck at last began to turn for the Essex man.
The crazy schedule of five back-to-back Test matches had claimed another victim, and this time it was on the side of the Indians as England's destroyer Sharma was ruled out for the next two matches.
In the third Test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, England won the toss again and this time elected to bat.
Cook survived a drop on 15 and capitalised to make 95, falling just short of extending his England record for Test centuries to 26.
Nevertheless, Ian Bell - who had suffered a similarly lean spell to his skipper - hit 167 for his 21st Test century, and Ballance hit 156 as England were able to declare on 569-7.
A fired-up Anderson then tore into India, taking 5-53 - and, though the tourists fell short of the follow-on, England elected to bat again anyway.
This time, Cook anchored the innings, his 70 not out off 114 balls allowing likes of Ballance, Bell and Root to score quickly around him.
England declared a second time on 205-4 and Ali then proceeding to demolish the Indian line-up, finishing with 6-67.
The series was only just back level at 1-1 - but already it felt as if the tables had already been fully turned.
A campaign which had begun with an Indian fast-bowler bouncing England out at Lord's was now seeing a hitherto unheralded spinner in Ali completely flummox India.
In the fourth Test at Old Trafford, India skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat under leaden skies in Manchester.
Half an hour later, the tourists were 8-4 with Anderson and Broad swinging the ball magnificently.
Anderson eventually took 3-46 and Broad 6-25 as India were bundled out for 152 on the stroke of tea on the first day. Six of their batsmen were out for a duck.
England were not at their most convincing in reply but half centuries from Bell, Root and new wicket-keeper Jos Buttler contributed to a total of 367.
Broad had his nose busted by a bouncer and so was unable to bowl in the second innings.
But Ali was again the star of the show, taking 4-39 as India fell to 161 all out after losing nine wickets in a single session after tea on Saturday.
England had won by an innings and suddenly the questions were instead being asked of the India regime with Dhoni and his men appearing to lack the ability or foresight to bat for time.
Sunday would have been a complete washout and better batting would have therefore taken the game into a final day which would have also been interrupted by rain.
Instead, it was 2-1 with England clearly holding the whip hand.
This was confirmed in the fifth Test over the weekend as the hosts won inside three days for a second time.
Asking India to bat first, Cook's attack immediately applied pressure to the tourists' increasingly brittle batting order and India duly collapsed to 90-9, and eventually 148 all out.
Encouragingly, the wickets were shared between four bowlers as Chris Jordan (3-32) and Chris Woakes (3-30) joined Anderson and the black-eyed Broad who took two apiece.
England then made a mockery of the India total, Cook and Ballance hitting 79 and 64 respectively to give a great platform to man of the match Root who made an unbeaten 149.
The scoring, on the third morning in particular, was lightening quick - almost 10-an-over - although this had more to do with a reprehensible Indian bowling performance and some shocking captaincy in the field by Dhoni.
If the bowling, fielding and captaincy had been poor, the batting once again was even worse.
Reduced to 9-2 following Gautam Gambhir's run out on the stroke of a rain break at lunch, India failed to make it to tea.
All out for 94 inside 30 overs, this was the first time that India had failed to make 200 in five successive innings since 1977.
Indeed, considering the bright start and the subsequent collapse of confidence, this has arguably been a worse tour than the 4-0 whitewash in 2011 when England were crowned the best in the world.
Unfortunately, this woeful India effort has also made it difficult to assess exactly how far this inexperienced England team is in terms of its development.
Nevertheless, things have certainly got better since earlier in the summer and a few certainties are emerging to fill some of the gaping holes which had been left.
Cook has restored confidence in his ability to lead the side and Ballance has looked a solid number three ever since his introduction to this level.
Bell and Root join Ballance in the middle-order while Buttler has done enough at the moment to be considered a replacement for Prior.
Ali made the biggest impact of a player this summer, going from being a part-time spin option to leading the attack on a couple of occasions.
However, there remain doubts over the second-line seam attack behind Broad and Anderson, as well as the capability of Australia-born opener Sam Robson.
For now, though, England can put a tumultuous summer of Test cricket to bed with no more five-day action in the schedule until a tour of the West Indies next April.
In the meantime, England play five One-Day Internationals against India, and seven in Sri Lanka, before a triangular series Down Under against Australia and India.
It is all in preparation for the next Cricket World Cup which takes place next February and March in Australia and New Zealand.
ENGLAND TEST RECORD SINCE THE 2013 ASHES
L0-5 v Australia (A) + L0-1 v Sri Lanka (H) + W3-1 v India (H)
| 21-24 Nov 2013 | v Australia (A) | Brisbane | L Australia 295 & 401-7d bt England 136 & 179 by 381 runs |
| 5-9 Dec 2013 | v Australia (A) | Adelaide | L Australia 570-9d & 132-3d bt England 172 & 312 by 218 runs |
| 13-17 Dec 2013 | v Australia (A) | Perth | L Australia 385 & 369-6d bt England 251 & 353 by 150 runs |
| 26-29 Dec 2013 | v Australia (A) | Melbourne | L Australia 204 & 231-2 bt England 255 & 179 by eight wickets |
| 3-5 Jan 2014 | v Australia (A) | Sydney | L Australia 326 & 276 bt England 155 & 166 by 281 runs |
| 12-16 Jun 2014 | v Sri Lanka (H) | Lord's | D England 575-9d 267-8d drew with Sri Lanka 453 & 201-9 |
| 20-24 Jun 2014 | v Sri Lanka (H) | Headingley | L Sri Lanka 257 & 457 bt England 365 & 249 by 100 runs |
| 9-13 Jul 2014 | v India (H) | Trent Bridge | D India 457 & 391-9 drew with England 496 |
| 17-21 Jul 2014 | v India (H) | Lord's | L India 295 & 342 bt England 319 & 223 by 95 runs |
| 27-31 Jul 2014 | v India (H) | Rose Bowl | W England 569-7d & 205-4d bt India 330 & 178 by 266 runs |
| 7-9 Aug 2014 | v India (H) | Old Trafford | W England 367 bt India 152 & 161 by an inns and 54 runs |
| 15-17 Aug 2014 | v India (H) | The Oval | W England 486 bt India 148 & 94 by an inns and 244 runs |
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