The New York Giants week 11 game against the Green Bay Packers was a long time coming for interim head coach Mike Kafka.
Kafka has been a staple on the off-season head coaching carousel since the team went to the playoffs in 2022. He’s interviewed for jobs in each of the last three off-seasons, and been a finalist multiple times, and yet teams have looked elsewhere and Kafka has had to go back to waiting for his chance.
He finally got his chance to be an NFL head coach when Brian Daboll was fired after the Giants’ Week 10 loss to the Chicago Bears. It certainly wasn’t how Kafka wanted to get his chance, and this is a tough situation for a first time head coach.
He likely didn’t want his chance to come in the middle of a losing season with no time to build out his coaching staff or install his playbook. He also probably would have preferred that he have his starting quarterback, top wide receiver, and top running back.
But this is the chance he got.
And now it’s up to Kafka to make the most of his opportunity and use the remainder of the season to prove to the Giants — and the rest of the NFL — that he can lead a football team as the head coach.
To his credit, Kafka overcame the lack of Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers, Cam Skattebo, Darius Slayton, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Paulson Adebo. The Giants got another lead over a team that was predicted to dominate them at home.
Unfortunately, the Giants also did what they’ve done throughout the year and proved unable to protect that lead, losing another winnable game.
So now we want to put it to the community: How do you grade Kafka’s head coaching debut?
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