The Giants are 2-10 after Sunday’s heartbreaking defeat in Detroit.
And in half of those losses, they led in the fourth quarter.
They blew fourth-quarter leads in Dallas, Denver, Chicago and now Detroit. They also did it at home against Green Bay.
Which means they’ve now done it in three straight games — against the Lions, Packers and Bears — and four times in their current six-game losing streak, if you throw in the Broncos debacle.
These Giants have no idea how to win, no clue how to close out games, especially on the road — where they are 0-7 this season, including five games in which they led by 10-plus points.
Going back to last season, they have lost a franchise-worst 12 consecutive road games.
That all speaks to their lack of resilience.
So as they seek Brian Daboll’s replacement, could they trade for a proven head coach who can inject them with resilience and teach them how to close out victories like Sunday’s missed opportunity for a huge upset in Detroit?
Because that’s what so much of these miserable three seasons boils down to for this beaten-down franchise, which is now 11-35 since 2023 opened, 5-24 since last season began and 3-21 in its past 24 games.
Daboll clearly was not the steady CEO-type leader the Giants need. And he failed as a rookie head coach, just like Joe Judge and Ben McAdoo before him. (Though not a newcomer to the big whistle job, Pat Shurmur was a proven loser with the Browns before the Giants foolishly hired him.)
Now, the Giants would consider trading for a head coach in this hiring cycle, according to Pro Football Talk. And why not at least be open to it?
There are complicating factors here, of course.
The biggest: Will co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch decide after the season to retain failed general manager Joe Schoen, who currently is running this coaching search as Mara battles cancer?
As that issue lingers, who are some head coach trade candidates, now that the Giants have ruled out one proven NFL winner, Bill Belichick?
Let’s take a look.
• Mike Tomlin, Steelers: Is it time for a fresh voice in Pittsburgh, especially if Aaron Rodgers is one-and-done there? That’s the question the Steelers will need to ask themselves. Like every coach on this list, Tomlin would need to approve a trade to the Giants. Would he prefer them or another landing spot?
Tomlin is under contract with the Steelers through 2027. If they fire him after this year, he would immediately become a sought-after candidate — something the Giants and Tomlin know. These final six games will be fascinating for the 6-5 Steelers and Tomlin, who has held their top job since 2007.
• Matt LaFleur, Packers: Plenty of hot-seat talk swirled around him before the Packers’ trip to East Rutherford last week. But they avoided an upset and then pounded the Vikings at home Sunday. Green Bay is now 7-3-1, boosting LaFleur’s job security.
He is under contract through 2026. So for the Packers, after this season, it’s either extend LaFleur or fire (or trade) him. If they don’t want to retain him and he is open to the Giants job, why not try to trade him?
That question isn’t as burning now that Green Bay has won two straight, but let’s see what the home stretch and playoffs bring.
As with the 53-year-old Tomlin, LaFleur would be a top candidate for coach-needy teams, since he is still in his prime, at age 46.
• John Harbaugh, Ravens: Could age be a factor here? Harbaugh isn’t ancient, but he is 63. Obviously, this would not be the same thing as hiring Belichick, who turns 74 next spring.
The Ravens have rallied, with five straight wins after a 1-5 start. So, like the Steelers, they’re 6-5 coming out of this weekend. Harbaugh got the Baltimore job a year after Tomlin was hired in Pittsburgh. They’re the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach. And both have one ring.
As for Harbaugh’s contract, he just signed a three-year extension in March, locking him up through 2028. A trade here seems unlikely.
• Zac Taylor, Bengals: Cincinnati’s owner, Mike Brown, is as frugal as they come. He loathes paying buyout money to coaches. Taylor, 42, is under contract through 2026. So what will Brown do after this season?
The Bengals on Sunday dropped to 3-8. Without Joe Burrow, this has been a lost season. But will Brown retain Taylor as a lame duck for 2026? And if he doesn’t want to extend him, could he try to trade him?
• Sean McDermott, Bills: Schoen knows McDermott well. In 2017, Schoen arrived in Buffalo with general manager Brandon Beane. Schoen served as his assistant GM. That same year, the Bills hired McDermott as their head coach. He has done quite well.
But this season has brought uneven results and plenty of speculation about McDermott’s future in Orchard Park — even though the Bills are 7-4 (albeit after a 4-0 start). When will Josh Allen reach the Super Bowl? And might it take a coaching change to make that happen?
Schoen spent five seasons with McDermott in Buffalo before the Giants hired him. Like Beane, McDermott is under contract through 2027. (Schoen, by the way, is only under contract through 2026.)
So those are five options to consider.
Obviously, a team does not have to trade its coach. And the coach does not have to agree to the trade, even if his team is open to it. So it’s not a lock that any of these coaches would even be available to the Giants.
In terms of sure-thing available proven candidates, their options include Jon Gruden (who probably would be too controversial), Bill O’Brien (who has stumbled this year at Boston College) and Mike McCarthy (who couldn’t get a job in last offseason’s hiring cycle).
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