The Giants are out of the playoffs again before the postseason has even started. The team was eliminated nearly one month ago, on November 23, in Week 12 of the NFL schedule after a 34-27 overtime defeat to the Detroit Lions on the road. Thirteen days earlier, the Giants fired their now former head coach Brian Daboll, who was in his fourth season at the helm.
The loss to the Lions marked the Giants’ earliest playoff elimination since 1976, almost 50 years ago. At 2-12 going into this Sunday’s home game versus the 6-8 Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium, the Giants are tied with the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders for the worst record in the league in a battle of the abysmal for the No. 1 pick in next April’s NFL Draft. The Giants’ game in Las Vegas against the Raiders on December 28 may decide which team gets the coveted but shrouded in losing spot.
Sunday’s game may be tinged with foreshadowing as the Giants may be looking across the field at the future in the person of Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, one of the best in the business. The 44-year-old Brownsville, Brooklyn native, a product of Poly Prep Country Day School located in the Dyker Heights section of the borough and graduate of Boston College, should be one of the top head coaching candidates for the expected multiple openings that will be available in the coming weeks as the NFL regular season ends on January 4.
Since the founding of the franchise by the late Timothy Mara in 1925, first playing their home games at the Polo Grounds in Harlem, the Giants have never had a Black head coach. But their next sideline CEO shouldn’t be selected based on ethnicity, a consciousness of breaking a glass ceiling, or shattering a justifiable long-held perception by many loyal Black fans that they have an aversion to a Black man as the face of the organization.
The sole consideration should be who is the most qualified person to lead the team to playoff and Super Bowl contention. The Giants’ impending search will ostensibly be spearheaded by co-owner John Mara, Tim Mara’s grandson, and co-owner Steve Tisch. Current general manager Joe Schoen’s job status is tenuous. The pursuit may ultimately land on Black as current Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman and Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph are among the most capable of the group.
Flores, a former Miami Dolphins head coach (2019-2021), still has a sports version of a fading scarlet letter on his forehead, painted, when he filed a class action lawsuit in February of 2022 —- which still has not been settled — against the NFL, Giants, Broncos, and Dolphins alleging racial discrimination. The suit was filed less than a month after the Giants interviewed Flores for their head coaching position. They eventually hired Daboll.
Fast forward close to four years, and today, of the 32 NFL teams, Flores’ Vikings defense ranks in the top third of the league, despite often being put in unfavorable field position by a struggling offense.
Flores’ commanding leadership and respect of his players is as consequential as the quantitative measurable data. To simply put, he possesses all the necessities to be the Giants’ next head coach.