NY Giants Week 10 Report Card: Free Fall Continues

What the New York Giants put on display yet again in a 24-20 loss to the Chicago Bears isn’t progress. It’s regression.

How else to explain the fourth-quarter collapses by the defense, the at-times mystifying strategizing by the head coach, and the lack of answers for a season that continues to spiral out of control?

Can the Giants truly afford to keep running it back with the status quo, given the catastrophic results that have occurred far too often this season?

The answer should be fairly obvious. Will it come to fruition, though? That remains to be seen, but the latest report card sure as heck doesn’t help make a case for keeping the status quo.

Offense: C-

Nov 9, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) rushes the ball against the Chicago Bears during the second half at Soldier Field. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Jaxson Dart was humming along in what might have been one of his best games of the year until he got knocked out cold in the third quarter. Dart went 19-of-29, 242 yards in the air and six for 66 yards, two touchdowns on the ground. His ball security had been pretty good up until this point, but losing that ball in the third quarter set the Bears up for their eventual comeback.

Darius Slayton made an Odell Beckham-like catch in the first quarter, one of the few highlights. The rushing offense got off to a slow start, but finished strong with 169 yards on 30 carries (5.6 yards per rush). In short, there was enough done on offense to get the win, even with some blips along the way, if only the rest of the team held up its end of the bargain.

Defense: F

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) scores the game-winning touchdown against New York Giants LB Brian Burns — Nov 9, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) scores the game-winning touchdown against New York Giants linebacker Brian Burns (0) during the fourth quarter at Soldier Field. | David Banks-Imagn Images

On the surface, it was a tale of two halves for the Giants' defense. In the first half, they were pretty solid, allowing just 174 net yards of total offense and holding the Bears to 16.7% on third downs.

But there were little cracks along the way that ultimately came back to bite the Giants, starting with the red zone.

The Bears went 2-of-3 in the red zone (75%), which was a big difference. Cor’Dale Flott was called for holding, negating a Dexter Lawrence sack on third down, and a pair of penalties on Deonte Banks gave the Bears' scoring drive new life, which they capped with a field goal.

The inability to finish is alarming with this group, as this is now the fourth game in a row they seem to have forgotten that the game is 60 minutes, not 45.

Special Teams: C-

It was a good idea in theory, but the Jamie Gillan experiment as the kickoff kicker should finally be over after he twice failed to get the ball into the landing zone this week, after having a similar problem last week.

Younghoe Koo was solid on his kickoffs and all his scoring, despite the weather conditions. The return game was pretty much nonexistent–zero yards on punt returns and only one kickoff return (by Deonte Banks) for 39 yards.

Meanwhile, the punt coverage unit allowed one return of 13 yards and two kickoffs for 46 yards, with a long of 23, the Bears winning the starting field position battle, CHI 34 to NYG 31.

Coaching: F

Every week, Daboll talks about coaching better, playing better, etc., and every week, they seem stuck in the mud. This week, Daboll delivered even more questionable decisions, the biggest of which was kicking a 19-yard field goal on 4th-and-1 from the 1-yard line, which gave the Giants a 10-point lead.

On the play,, the Bears were flagged for having too many men on the field,, yet Daboll declined the penalty and kept the points.

Even if they had tried for the touchdown and come up short, that would have forced the Bears to drive the length of the field. And if the Giants' defense was playing as well as Daboll said up until that point, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that maybe they could have gotten a stop and given the offense back the ball in excellent field position?

And why go for it on 4th-and-2 on the Bears’ 49-yard line? Why not pooch punt there and pin Chicago deep? That decision gave the Bears a short field, which they promptly turned into a 7-0 lead.

As for Shane Bowen, what can be said that we haven’t already said in this weekly column? They’re 0-4 in games in which the team has had a 10+ lead to protect, outscored 115-68 in the fourth quarter, and 75 points surrendered now in the fourth quarter of the last four games.

If Daboll, assuming he doesn’t lose his job upon his return to East Rutherford, doesn’t make a change to inject some life into that unit, then it’s beyond hopeless.