The New York Giants‘ latest blown double-digit lead was enough for them to move on from Brian Daboll.
Daboll has been fired as the head coach of the Giants in the midst of his fourth season at the helm, the team announced Monday. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will be named interim head coach.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen will remain in his position and will lead the search to find the team’s next head coach, the team added in its announcement on Monday.
“We spoke this morning about the direction of our franchise on the field, and we have decided that, at this time, it is in our best interest to make a change at the head coaching position,” Giants president John Mara and chairman Steve Tisch said in a joint statement.
“The past few seasons have been nothing short of disappointing, and we have not met our expectations for this franchise. We understand the frustrations of our fans, and we will work to deliver a significantly improved product.
“We appreciate Coach Daboll for his contributions to our organization. We wish the Daboll family all the best in the future.”
As for the decision to keep Schoen, both Mara and Tisch believe that he’s built a roster that he and the team can build on for the foreseeable future.
“We feel like Joe has assembled a good young nucleus of talent, and we look forward to its development,” Mara said. “Unfortunately, the results over the past three years have not been what any of us want. We take full responsibility for those results and look forward to the kind of success our fans expect.”
“These are difficult decisions, and John and I do not take them lightly, but we feel like this is the right thing to do at this time and will allow us to move forward,” Tisch added.
The move to fire Daboll came a day after the Bears blew a 20-10 fourth-quarter lead in their eventual 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, falling to 2-8 on the season. It marks the fourth time this season that the Giants lost a game that they led by at least 10 points on the road, going winless in such games. They memorably blew a 26-8 lead in the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos in Week 7, losing that matchup, 33-32.
Sunday’s loss was a bit different, though. Promising rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart left the game in the fourth quarter after getting evaluated for a concussion. The injury occurred on a designed run after Dart took some hard hits on runs and scrambles earlier in the game, leading some to criticize Daboll and the coaching staff for putting the quarterback in harm’s way.
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Still, Daboll had seemingly been on the hot seat since last season. He was able to keep his job after a 3-14 season in 2024 and went 9-25 over the past two seasons. The Giants drafted edge rusher Abdul Carter third overall, and then they traded back into the first round for Dart, who Daboll had identified as the team’s quarterback of the future.
Dart showed plenty of promise this season with seven rushing touchdowns and 10 passing touchdowns in his seven starts this season, while throwing only three interceptions. He also set a record for the most consecutive games with a rushing touchdown for a quarterback on Sunday, with his two rushing scores marking the fifth straight game that Dart had rushed for a touchdown. But New York went 2-5 in those games.
As for what’s next for the Giants, the seven-game stretch to close out the regular season will be considered an audition for Kafka to become the team’s next head coach, according to Vacchiano. Kafka was hired as the Giants’ offensive coordinator when Daboll got the job in 2022. The former Northwestern standout was promoted to assistant head coach before the 2024 season.
Schoen, meanwhile, also dealt with rumors of being on the hot seat entering the year. He was hired alongside Daboll in 2022, with both coming from the Buffalo Bills. Daboll was the Bills’ offensive coordinator, while Schoen was Buffalo’s assistant general manager from 2017-21.
The Giants went 20-40-1 in Daboll’s time as head coach.
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