The 100th season of the Giants was meant to celebrate the past but might wind up making all the wrong kinds of history instead.
Mixed in with the introduction of a Century Red uniform, lists recognizing all-time great players and moments, a community caravan, a documentary on late pioneering team owner Wellington Mara, and well-received events that brought fans closer to their favorite Super Bowl-winning legends has been … so much losing that it begs an uncomfortable question.
Is the 100th team in Giants history actually the worst team in Giants history?
You can bet that general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll didn’t pitch that idea during any strategic planning meetings, but the sad reality is that 2024 might not clear the lowest bar now that the Giants have lost seven straight to fall to 2-10.
It calls to mind owner John Mara’s words previewing the season.
“We’re all excited about it. A little nervous because we want to make sure that the 100th season, you’d like it to be a successful one,” Mara told Giants.com. “You’d like every season to be successful, but particularly this one. A lot of history behind those 100 years.”
Unsuccessful would be an understatement. All the worst seasons in franchise history — the 501 points allowed in 1966, the eight-game, season-ending losing streak in 2003, and the Bill Parcells-Phil Simms drama of 1983, to name a few — have new company.
The Giants could finish this season …
* With their worst 16- or 17-game season record. Losing the final five games — as underdogs in each — would mean a .118 winning percentage that would be the franchise’s second-worst — ahead of the 1966 team that went 1-12-1 (.107) and behind other two-win outfits in 1947, 1964, 1973 and 1974.
* Winless in the NFC East for the first time. Since permanently joining the division in 1970, the Giants have finished in last place 14 times, but never faced what would happen if they lose to the Eagles in Week 18 to go 0-6 against their three rivals.
The best hope of avoiding that dubious distinction might be if the Eagles already have clinched their playoff positioning and are resting starters.
* Winless at home for the first time since 1974, when they were playing at the Yale Bowl while waiting for their first Meadowlands home to be built. The 2003 and 1983 teams both went 1-7 at Giants Stadium.
By losing to the Cowboys — who had been 0-5 with deficits of at least 20 points in each of their home games this season — the Giants (0-6) are left as the NFL’s last winless team at home. The Saints (4-7), Ravens (8-4) and Colts (5-7) still have to visit.
* With the fewest points scored in the NFL for the first time since 1953, when there only were 12 franchises.
Starting three quarterbacks for the third time in the past four years, the Giants are averaging 15.3 points per game. It would be the fifth time in the past eight seasons that the Giants have ranked bottom-three in scoring, but there always was someone else — usually the Jets — worse until now.
* With the longest losing streak in franchise history, single-season or otherwise. The current seven-game slide is tied for the seventh-worst mark and is creeping up on the three-time record of nine in a row (1976, 2003-04 and 2019).
Unless an unretired Eli Manning is going to save the day like he did when he came off the bench to start for an injured Daniel Jones and ended the nine-game skid in 2019 in his final career game, the Giants could reach 12 straight losses by season’s end.
* With the fewest interceptions by a defense in NFL history. The Giants already own the modern record (since 1933) for consecutive games without an interception at 11 and counting. The 2018 49ers set the record for fewest single-season interceptions with two, and the Giants haven’t had a team with fewer than six (2022) since the statistic was first tracked in 1940.
The weight of an unwelcome place in history is not lost on the two architects.
Schoen claimed to “fully understand the responsibility that comes with being the general manager of the New York Football Giants” on his first day on the job. A week later, on his first day, Daboll called it a “historic franchise.”
One thousand thirty-three days later, an embattled Daboll spoke again on the heels of Thursday’s loss to the Cowboys.
“We’ll do everything we can do to go out there and play well and get a win,” a forward-looking Daboll said. “We have a lot of confidence in our people. Obviously not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination.”
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