CHICAGO – Joe Schon and Brian Daboll may rewrite Giants» history books again on Sunday.
Loss for Bears (5-3) at Soldier Field will be the Giants' 11th straight road loss dating back to October 2024 in more than a calendar year.
This would set a new franchise record for being useless for Giants (2-7) in the 101st season of work.
Their current 10-game losing streak on the road is currently tied for the worst in franchise history with the 1978-79 Giants teams. They are 0-5 at MetLife Stadium this season and have lost their last five road games to end their inexplicably poor 2024 season.
Daball On Friday, he was asked to identify the common thread between the Giants' inability to rally on the road. He decided not to do this.
“I’m focused on this week,” Daboll said. “So we need to do a good job against this team and that’s the most important thing.”
These days, the Giants obviously don't just lose on the road. They lose everywhere.
Just last season, Sean and Daboll set a new franchise record by losing 10 straight games on their schedule from Oct. 13 to Dec. 22.
They have a 3-18 record in their last 21 games and a 5-21 record in their last 26 games.
Shawn and Daboll have a combined record of 5-17-1 against NFC East opponents, 2-14-0 against the Eagles and Cowboys and 20-39-1 in four regular seasons.
They haven't won a road game since Oct. 6, 2024, in Seattle, winning 29–20 with Daniel Jones at quarterback.
Once the losses started, they blamed Jones for their failures, and after a 3–14 season, both GM and coach retained ownership.
A year later, Jones leads the NFL in passing yards. His 7-2 Indianapolis Colts are atop the NFC. And the Giants still don’t know where is up and where is down.
All this suggests that the Bears can be defeated.
Although they have won five of their last six, two of those losses were by one point, both by scores of 25-24, to two bad teams – the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Commanders. The third was last week's ridiculous, lucky 47-42 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bears are also giving up 28.4 points per game, fourth-worst in the entire NFL.
On the other hand, Chicago's defense leads the NFL in turnovers with 19. And the Bears as a team lead the league in turnover margin at plus-13.
The Giants trail the Bears by allowing 27.7 points per game, fifth in the NFL, and have a turnover margin of minus three, forcing opponents to give up just six points all season.
Expect the Bears to move the ball at a tremendous rate, and not just because there will likely be snow on the ground.
Chicago ranks second in yards per game (144.4), partly because the Bears are good at it and partly because head coach and play-caller Ben Johnson remains committed to the physical side of the game.
The Giants have been hit hard by the Eagles and 49ers on the ground in recent weeks, prompting defensive coordinator Shane Bowen to make an interesting comment on Thursday:
It turns out that the “scheme” changes that Daboll and the players have been hinting at this week as they try to stop the bleeding with run defense have to do primarily with the way the Giants' defensive line plays at the line of scrimmage.
“The way you want to apply pressure could potentially change,” Bowen said. “It can go both ways. You can put pressure on some things and get caught and they can burn you out. But [there are] different things we can do on the front, maybe changing the front, what techniques we play, different fronts – whether it's four down, or five down.
“And the technique we play with in each position can vary,” Bowen added. “All [of those are] things we covered on Monday. We're trying to give our guys the best chance to go out there and be successful, whatever it is—scheme, technique, whatever we do.”
Here's a translation of what Bowen said: The Giants' defensive line and front are not using acceptable and effective running techniques. They try to “stop the run at the quarterback,” a strategy supported by Sean and Daboll.
And look where it got them: to the point where Giants legend and two-time Super Bowl winner Carl Banks had to yell at Dexter Lawrence's play last week.
Then defensive line coach Andre Patterson, who likes to blame the secondary for defensive problems, hit back at Banks.
Lawrence then had one combined tackle and a tackle for loss in a lopsided loss to the 49ers.
All of this was controlled and carried out by Sean and Daboll. This was their plan. This backfired spectacularly. And now they're struggling to get a stoppage, let alone a win.
Rookie Defender Jackson Dart remains the organization's only apparent bright spot, even as talk around the team continues to focus on job security for the general manager and coach, as well as the injury to forward Graham Gano.
Younghe Koo will potentially make his team debut on the snow in the Windy City.
However, Dart will not be able to carry out this entire operation. And when the Giants lose, Daboll puts him in danger late in the game, trying to improve the final results.
It will be even worse if they don't change the way they operate.
But no one will come to save them, including the schedule.
The Packers, Lions and Patriots are heading into an extremely late Giants bye week.
Will they get there with the same grandmaster and coach running this show? May be.
Maybe not.
COLLINS, MUASAU TO INJURY RESERVE
The Giants activated Koo and wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud from the practice squad for Sunday's game, placed wide receiver Beau Collins and linebacker Darius Muasau on injured reserve and signed linebacker Zaire Barnes and outside linebacker Thomon Fox to the active roster.
