When you look back on Tom Coughlin’s tenure as head coach of the New York Giants, there’s both success and confusion in equal parts.
The former is obvious: Coughlin’s Giants have finished on top of the NFC East three times, winning the Super Bowl twice (2008 and 2012). Improbable and lucky catches were needed to secure both championships. But hey, the journey to those grabs was still pretty impressive.
The latter? The confusion lies in the past five seasons. That stretch includes one of those two Super Bowl wins. But in the four non-Super Bowl years the Giants missed the playoffs, finishing with a record at or below .500 in two of them (8-8 in 2009, and 7-9 in 2013).
Fast forward back to current times, and the Giants are 3-7. Barring something truly historic, miraculous and downright absurd over the final six weeks, they’ll miss the playoffs again in 2014. That feeling of confusion surrounding Coughlin will grow, as will his losing. In just over a month Coughlin’s 2012 Super Bowl will be buried between a forest of failed seasons and nothingness.
Let’s ask the annual question then: should he hang around for another season?
It seems that question is a late November tradition now, right up there with Santa Claus parades rumbling through Small Town Anywhere far too early. Before we continue much further with this year’s deep thoughts on Coughlin’s employment, let’s remind ourselves the Giants’ woes aren’t entirely on him.
A head coach is always at the mercy of his quarterback, and Coughlin’s has been a fiery mess far too often. Last year Eli Manning threw a career high 27 interceptions, and although he’s improved overall this season in Ben McAdoo’s offense, chucking five picks in one game (as Manning did in Week 11) is how you eventually get a coach fired.
A head coach is also at the mercy of luck, and horrible luck in Coughlin’s case. His defense has been decimated by injuries, losing cornerback Prince Amukamara and middle linebacker Jon Beason.
But the reach of injury problems only goes so far. The Giants can look up in their own division and see two teams—the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles—also decimated by breaks and rips, but they’ve both marched on to 7-3 records. The Cowboys lost Sean Lee long before the season even started, and the Eagles haven’t had a completely healthy offensive line for pretty much the entire year.
Coughlin has been around for a long time, and he’s likely destined to end his career in Canton. He’s already established that legacy with his two Super Bowl rings and previously leading the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars to appearances in two AFC Championship games.
But that’s the overall Coughlin experience. The more recent one is that of a coach with an offensive background who has seen his team get shutout once this year (a 27-0 loss to the Eagles in Week 6) and overall the Giants are averaging only 20.5 points per game (21st).
Meanwhile, during a five-game losing streak they’ve been outscored 152-71. That comes after a 2013 season when the Giants were shutout twice and lost their first six games.
Giants ownership is intensely loyal to Coughlin, with John Mara saying back in June that his head coach’s hind region isn’t on a hot seat. But Mara also said Coughlin hasn’t necessarily earned the right to leave on his own terms, because few in the football coaching business get that privilege.
The decision facing the Giants with one year remaining in Coughlin’s contract is between either the status quo and more inconsistency, or starting earlier with the change at the top that’s coming inevitably anyway once he steps down.
Few coaches have Tom Coughlin’s legacy. But even fewer survive back-to-back seasons with lengthy losing streaks, and three straight without a playoff appearance.
