Is Shurmur the guy to coach the Giants? I’m not so sure (Opinion)

The New York Giants not only lost to the Detroit Lions, but they have also become them.

This once-proud franchise which won four Super Bowls and consistently went to the playoffs in the last three decades has reverted back to the Giants of the late sixties and seventies.

As of this writing, the Giants are 2 wins short of matching their win total from the dark ages decade of the '60s.

Since Tom Coughlin led this team to a Super Bowl victory in 2012, they are 40-55 with one playoff appearance that ended in disaster and 3 head coaches including TC and a new quarterback in Daniel Jones.

Their latest head coach Pat Shurmur doesn't give me any reason to believe that he's the one to turn this tide around and develop this quarterback.

I hear how franchises that keep changing head coaches are destined to lose. To that, I say "But what if you picked the wrong guy?" I keep looking for reasons to believe in Shurmur and all I see is the team regressing.

I even went to the Mike Francesa WFAN interview where the coach was asked why he should keep his job. You would think there would be a straight answer that would instill confidence in the fans but instead, he replied, "I think we have the right direction here I really do." But nothing as to why he's the guy that should be taking them in that direction. BTW, they have gone 2-4 since that question was asked.

Seeing his coaching decisions, from running Eli Penny on 3rd down and 2 against Dallas, then rolling Eli Manning out on 4th and 1 to go for it on 4th and 15 against Arizona after a Barkley draw play only gets you 3 yards, and all those plays in between doesn't instill the confidence that he's the guy.

Shurmur in 15-40 as a head coach. When Tom Coughlin was hired in 2004 he came in with a pedigree of coaching the Giants receivers and taking the Jacksonville Jaguars to the AFC championship game in 1996.

He would take them there again in 2017 after leaving the Giants. Ben McAdoo was given 2 years, but turned out to be in clearly over his head after taking his team to the playoffs with a 100 million dollar defense in 2016.

If Coughlin had that defense he'd probably still be here. But Pat Shurmur is here and with each passing game, each passing loss, each low key post-game press conference telling me how the focus is on next week and try to get a win, I'm not comfortable that he's the one to make that happen.

We hear about Daniel Jones great game against the Lions where he threw 4 touchdown passes against a defense that traded their captain and was playing without their best defensive game.

Let's not forget that it was Jones who gave up another touchdown by throwing a lateral to Saquon Barkey who didn't follow through on the play until it was too late. Don't they coach that? Shouldn't the players know what to do in that situation? The first thing Tom Coughlin did when he came to the Giants was to cure Tiki Barber's fumbling problem. How long does it take for Shurmur to cure Daniel Jones's? It gets worse each week. This should be quarterback 101.

When Jeffrey Lurie hired Chip Kelly, he realized after 3 years it was a bad choice and made a change to a man, Doug Pederson, who won him a Super Bowl. Pederson learned at the feet of Andy Reid and brought that knowledge back to Philadelphia and then some.

Shurmur also worked for Reid along with several others. If he's learned anything, it's time for him to show us why he's the guy to lead this team going forward. This is Shurmur's big chance he may not get another one.

If he's not the guy, then the Giants need to move quickly before they waste anymore of Saquon Barkley's career, and maybe that of Daniel Jones as well.

More from New Jersey 101.5: