The question was never whether Pat Shurmur deserved to be fired; the question was why he was ever hired in the first place. With the possible exception of Ray Handley and Ben McAdoo, no Giants head coach was more in over his head than Shurmur. He's proof positive that not ever assistant coach turns out to be a Bill Belichick.
And that's why Dave Gettleman's next decision - naming his replacement - is the most important one he's made since he became GM. I won't mince words here. Gettleman should've been shown the door along with Shurmur on Monday. He's as much to blame for the sorry state this franchise is in as his sad sack of a head coach; more so, since he was the one who hired him and then saddled him with least talented bunch of players this side of Miami.
But the fact is John Mara didn't want to pull the trigger, so Gettleman gets one more shot to get this right. And for the sake of Big Blue, he'd better not screw it up. If he does, the organization might never recover.
Now that Ron Rivera has signed with the Redskins and Jerry Jones seems unwilling to fire Jason Garrett - go figure - there are several intriguing candidates the Giants could consider. I'll go through them in order of preference.
Mike McCarthy. The former Green Bay head coach guided the Packers to a Super Bowl title in the 2010 season and the best record in the NFC the following year before getting upset by the Giants in the divisional round. He has the experience and temperament needed to turn this franchise around and his no-nonsense approach will bring badly needed discipline to the locker room. He employs a west-coast offense, so if he's hired you can expect that Saquon Barkley will see a lot of play-action passes. The only red flag is his relationship with Aaron Rodgers. It led to his firing.
Matt Rhule. Currently the head coach at Baylor, he's turned around two programs and got his team all the way to the Sugar Bowl this year before losing to Georgia. The smart money is on him, but he's on record as saying he plans on remaining at Baylor. At least he has some head coaching experience, and he does know the organization having been offensive line coach under Tom Coughlin in 2012.
Josh McDaniels. He bailed on the Colts two years ago after agreeing to be their head coach, so any potential suitor would do well to be wary of hiring him. Still, as Patriots' offense coordinator, he does have a pretty impressive resume. Yes, Tom Brady is in a league of his own, but even the best need good coaching.
I think it'll come down to McCarthy or Rhule, and if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Rhule. He's from New York and he's more of a teacher than McCarthy, something that will help with a young team. Either way, the Giants will wind up with a very good coach who hopefully will restore this franchise to the lofty heights it once enjoyed.
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