New York Giants Stats That Mattered Most in Week 16 Loss to Vikings

These stats really spelled doom for the Giants in their Week 16 loss to Minnesota.

Dec 21, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants head coach Mike Kafka (Interim) reacts against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Giants did not put their best foot forward offensively in Week 16, losing 16-13 to the Minnesota Vikings.

Any offensive performance from the past few weeks would have been good enough to earn the victory, but it was the most lifeless the offense has looked in quite some time.

It is unfortunate because of how well the defense played throughout the game. They were disruptive and were able to get to the quarterback more than they have over the past few weeks.

So why was the offense so bad? While we likely cannot answer that question, we can identify what the product of a bad offense looked like and why they were unable to get things going. Here is a look at the stats that mattered in the Week 16 loss. 

Passing First Downs

The Vikings, behind quarterbacks J.J. McCarthy and Max Brosmer, picked up eight first downs through the air, while the Giants picked up only 1. No, that's not a typo; the Giants only threw for one first down.

They picked up more first downs via penalty (four) than they did by passing. It is a major letdown from Week 15, when the Giants threw the football for a first down 12 times, leading to 22 total frustrating downs.

Instead of that production, the Giants were only able to put up a total of 12 first downs. Without those first downs, they couldn't keep drives alive. That essentially led to more punts and turnovers on down, and the overall ineptitude of the offense.

The passing game was not efficient. The team only totaled 0.7 yards per pass attempt. It would be nearly impossible to produce first downs on that type of production. 

Total Yards

The lack of a passing attack crippled the team's ability to generate yards on offense. The Vikings finished with 240 yards of total offense, which by itself is not that impressive, but when you factor in that it was 99 more yards than the Giants produced, you feel differently about it.

New York outgained Minnesota in this game. They ran the ball 30 times for 128 yards, while the Vikings ran the ball 31 times for 114 yards. That is what makes the total yards numbers even more damning; they only produced 13 yards through the air all afternoon.

Both McCarthy and Brosmer threw for more yards than Dart. As a guy who was the engine for the offense since he was inserted into the starting lineup, it felt like that engine stalled out. One can safely assume this was the worst game he has played, ever.

It was also strange that they did not seem interested in turning over the offense to him and just letting him go to work. 

Red Zone Efficiency

The Vikings were not very efficient in the red zone against the Giants, converting only one of four attempts.

The problem was that New York was even worse. They were unable to convert any of their three red zone chances.

It is one of the things they have improved on this season, but it did not show on Sunday. If they were able to turn one of those three trips inside the 20 into a touchdown, they would have won the game.

That's how critical the success of your red zone offense is to your team's ability to win games.

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