It came down to what it almost always comes down to.
The Giants lost and lost and lost some more. They forgot how to win. This always spells doom for the person paid to prevent this from happening.
In the end, this is what made Monday’s events inevitable. Pat Shurmur was fired after a 4-12 season followed a 5-11 season, failure that was just not going to cut it.
Beating the Eagles in the season finale — instead of losing, 34-17 — would not have prevented the ax from falling. The nine-game losing streak that lasted all through October and November and well into December made it clear to the decision-makers that Shurmur was not the right man to coach the team moving forward.
“With Pat, it ends up being as much a gut instinct as anything else,’’ co-owner John Mara said. “We felt like we weren’t winning enough games, we weren’t winning the games we should have won and we just need to go in a different direction.
“I just felt there were so many games I felt we should have won and we just didn’t get the job done.’’
Just like that, the Giants canned another head coach, firing Shurmur only two years into a five-year contract — though they retained GM Dave Gettleman. Since 2017, the Giants have lost more games (36) than any team in the NFL and in 2020 will have their fourth head coach in the past six years — five if you count Steve Spagnuolo, who filled an interim role late in the 2017 season.
A franchise that believes it operates in lockstep with the successful, stability-infused Steelers now must be likened more so to the Browns, as far as trending as a losing operation making frequent changes on the fly.
Once again, the Giants ring in a New Year engaged in a coaching search.
There will not be a search for a new general manager, as Gettleman — hired late in the 2017 season to rebuild a broken franchise — was spared and will return in 2020. Gettleman took over a shabby roster and a dreadful salary-cap situation, and ownership believes he found a worthy successor to Eli Manning in Daniel Jones.
Shurmur was scheduled to have an 11 a.m. team meeting with his players but never made it that far. He met with ownership in the morning and was dismissed before 9 a.m. He finished 9-23 in his two years with the Giants — the same record he had in his previous head coaching gig, in Cleveland. He spoke with what now are his former players briefly before departing.
“Good luck with everything,’’ Shurmur said as he shook hands and walked out the door. He later declined comment to The Post while driving away.
Keeping Gettleman, Mara insisted, is not falling into status quo, listing several changes instituted by Gettleman that need more time to make an impact.
“The point I’m trying to make is it’s not business as usual here at the Giants,’’ Mara said.
Shurmur will not get the chance to reap what he sowed with Jones and the young players forced to start and struggle as rookies. The next head coach gets that. Already, the Giants have requested interviews with Josh McDaniels (Patriots offensive coordinator) and Eric Bieniemy (Chiefs offensive coordinator) and have serious interest in Matt Rhule, the head coach at Baylor and a former Giants assistant offensive line coach (in 2012). Kris Richard (a defensive assistant with the Cowboys) will interview Thursday, according to ESPN.
Gettleman spoke to the players after Shurmur’s firing was announced, stating everyone in the room is responsible for the direction of the team and the dismissal of the head coach.
Shurmur held the respect of his players but rarely seemed able to lift the emotional state of the team or make his mark as giving the Giants an advantage on game days with his preparation or in-game operations.
“It sucks,’’ running back Saquon Barkley said. “That’s your coach. He’s one of the guys that believed in me, believed in DJ [Daniel Jones], for us to get here and live our dreams of playing in the NFL. You don’t want to see anybody go out like that.”
Jones in his second NFL season will have to play for his second coach and learn his second NFL offense. He was taken aback by Shurmur addressing the team on the way out.
“Coach’s class and just who he is as a man was always apparent,’’ Jones said. “It was apparent in that meeting also. I think the world of him. I have the ultimate amount of respect for him as a coach and as a person.’’
A case can be made the Giants should have fast-forwarded the coach search by jettisoning Shurmur a few weeks earlier. Mara said, “you can argue we could have’’ and admitted he held out hope Shurmur could turn things around.
Mara praised Shurmur for helping to identify Jones as draft-worthy and then developing him as a rookie. But there was also the sting of seeing and hearing too many fans of the opposing team at MetLife Stadium.
“That’s happened too often this year,’’ Mara said.
That’s why head coaches get fired. Again.
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December 30, 2019 at 06:29PM
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Pat Shurmur's final words as Giants upheaval returned - New York Post
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