How Mike Kafka's Promotion to Giants IHC Could Help Spark the Team

At 2–8, the New York Giants’ season is effectively dead in the water. So when the organization fired Brian Daboll and elevated offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to interim head coach earlier this week, it signaled a move they felt couldn’t wait until the end of the season.

Taking an interim head-coaching job is rarely a safe bet, especially when you’re inheriting a 2-8 team with an injury-riddled offense and a star quarterback who is sidelined for at least another week.

The interim head-coaching position feels like a thankless job, rarely leading to a successful full-time hire. History shows that even interim coaches who manage to squeeze out a few late-season wins from basement-dwelling rosters rarely emerge as viable long-term solutions.

So why would this be the right move for Mike Kafka’s career? In football, everything is built on a “next man up” mentality. By taking this interim job, Kafka is showing not just the Giants, but the entire league, that he’s willing and able to lead even when all hope seems lost.

It’s a high-risk, high-reward audition as an NFL head coach, and the kind that can fast-track a coach’s trajectory if he delivers.

Despite the Giants’ record, this isn’t a hopeless roster. With a star quarterback in Jaxson Dart and an elite pass rush anchoring the defense, the Giants’ ceiling remains higher than their 2-8 record suggests.

Four separate double-digit fourth-quarter collapses point more toward coaching failures than lack of player talent.

If Kafka can stabilize the operation in New York and find ways to win with a young, talented, and albeit battered team, he can end any debate about whether the latest losing streak was on former head coach Brian Daboll.

More importantly, he can take his own victory lap as the coach who finally put Dart in a position to get the wins his play deserves.

This change could be good for Giants

Mike Kafka begins a 7-game audition to have the "interim" label removed from his title. | Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

For the Giants as a team and organization, keeping Kafka in place makes sense, at least for now. Even if the Giants aren’t playing meaningful football the rest of the way, they are in a crucial stage of Dart’s development, and preserving some internal familiarity is critical to fielding a functional offense.

Changing the playbook and having a revolving door of head coaches and new schemes has proven time and time again to hinder a rookie quarterback's progress.

Keeping the coach who knows the scheme, has been calling the plays, and understands Dart’s tendencies is invaluable. From a messaging standpoint, promoting from within can lift morale and signal that ownership still has trust in the staff who remain and in the structure already in place.

Kafka has already come out swinging in his first two days on the job, naming quarterback Jameis Winston the starter for this Sunday’s matchup against Green Bay while Dart remains in concussion protocol, as well as signing former Giants wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins to the practice squad.

The road ahead won’t be easy, but if Kafka can get a handle on the late-game collapses, fix the red-zone offense, bring order to special teams, and find ways to close out games, he’ll be one step closer to proving he can be a true NFL head coach.

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This change could be good for Giants

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