CHICAGO — The last time the New York Giants played a game in Chicago, Joe Judge all but ended his own coaching career. Brian Daboll’s head-coaching tenure could meet the same fate four years later in the same spot.
Sunday’s 24-20 loss to the Bears was the Giants’ third fourth-quarter collapse of the season. It’s the newest low point in a season that keeps sinking to new depths.
Judge set in motion his firing with an epic 11-minute rant after a 29-3 loss to the Bears in Week 17 of the 2021 season. The Giants lost the final six games of that season, and Judge was fired after compiling a .303 winning percentage in his two seasons.
Daboll kept his postgame news conference answers typically brief on Sunday, but the product on the field was so much worse than even the Judge days. Daboll has a .185 winning percentage over the past two seasons.
The way Judge’s monologue was the tipping point of his tenure, the concussion suffered by rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart on Sunday could be the final straw for Daboll.
Dart represented Daboll’s last chance to save his job, and the coach has acted accordingly. That has mostly produced promising results, but there has been a caveat to Dart’s early success: He was taking too many hits.
Daboll was finally burned by playing with fire with Dart’s health. The quarterback left Sunday’s game with a concussion between the third and fourth quarters after Daboll said he alerted trainers that Dart, “just didn’t seem right.”
Daboll said he wasn’t sure when Dart got injured, but it certainly looked like it occurred when his head slammed into the ground on a fumble with five minutes left in the third quarter. Dart appeared to go limp briefly and then was slow to get up. It wasn’t clear if he was upset by the fumble or injured, but it’s shocking that he wasn’t sent for a concussion evaluation immediately.
Dart played the first two snaps of the next drive to end the third quarter. That’s when he was removed and sent to the medical tent on the sideline to get evaluated for a concussion. Dart then slowly walked back to the locker room, with Daboll’s New York coaching career exiting along with the quarterback.
Managing Dart’s rushing ability has always been a fine line, but Daboll has shown no interest in toeing it. Dart had five designed runs for 62 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. That success was too intoxicating for Daboll to consider the potential for injury for the 6-foot-2, 223-pound Dart.
“I just say it’s unfortunate he got hurt,” Daboll said.
Dart’s 25 designed runs are the most among quarterbacks despite him not taking over as the starter until Week 4. There was no way of knowing what hit would be the one to get Dart injured, but there was mounting evidence that he was taking too much of a beating. Sunday was his third concussion evaluation in seven starts (he had a fourth in one of his preseason appearances), and he also has dealt with ankle and hamstring injuries.
“I’m concerned for the kid,” Daboll said.
Judge survived another week after his meltdown in Chicago, sealing his fate with ill-conceived quarterback sneaks in an embarrassing loss to the Washington Commanders in the season finale.
Giants ownership has mostly resisted in-season firings. But another collapse paired with Dart’s injury could spur action. Even if Daboll survives the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s debacle, Chicago will once again be the place a Giants’ coaching tenure ended.
Here are three more takeaways on the Giants’ latest collapse:
No guts, no glory
The Giants have lost four straight games. They’ve lost 11 straight on the road. They’re 2-8 for the third straight season. The variety of ways to sum up their futility is seemingly limitless.
It’s almost impossible to believe that Daboll was named NFL Coach of the Year after his surprising debut in 2022. He seemed to press all the right buttons that season, especially early when the Giants raced out to a 7-2 start.
Whatever magic touch Daboll possessed then has long since disappeared. There have been consistent calls in this space for Daboll to recapture the aggression that punctuated his first career win, when he boldly went for a two-point conversion to escape from Tennessee with a 21-20 win.
With blustery conditions making field goals a challenge, Daboll rolled the dice on fourth-and-1 from Chicago’s 19-yard line in the second quarter. A well-conceived play-action fake didn’t fool the Bears enough for tight end Daniel Bellinger to get open, and a contested pass fell incomplete for a turnover on downs.
Daboll went for it again on fourth-and-1 from New York’s 47-yard line midway through the third quarter. Another well-timed play call sprung Dart for an easy 9-yard gain on a bootleg, with the quarterback even sliding to avoid a hit at the end of the run.
Daboll, however, appeared to lose his nerve on another fourth down early in the fourth quarter. Leading 17-10, the Giants had a fourth-and-goal from Chicago’s 1-yard line when Daboll called on kicker Younghoe Koo for a 19-yard field goal. Koo made the chip shot to give the Giants a 20-10 lead with 10:19 remaining, but the Bears were flagged for having 12 men on the field.
The penalty would have moved the ball inside the 1-yard line. It appeared third-string quarterback Jameis Winston was prodding Daboll to send the offense back onto the field, but the coach shook off the suggestion and declined the penalty.
It’s understandable that Daboll wanted to establish a two-score lead in that situation. But there has to be an awareness of the fragile team he is coaching. As well as the Giants’ defense played for the first three quarters Sunday, they had allowed 61 points in the fourth quarters of the previous three games.
Naturally, history repeated, with the Bears scoring the final 14 points of the game to steal the victory. For all of the lamenting in the losing locker room about how the Giants need to finish games, it’s not hard to draw a line to the coach who lacks a killer instinct.
Anything but DangerRuss
The shame in Dart’s injury is that he was on track for his third career win. With a wide receiver corps featuring practice squad elevation Ray-Ray McCloud, who was signed two weeks ago, and returner Gunner Olszewski, who has 16 catches in six seasons, Dart still managed to make plays.
He completed 19-of-29 passes for 242 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, while adding six carries for 66 yards and two touchdowns. At the time Dart left, he was out-dueling Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft.
Dart got into a rhythm in an offense that had him running under-center play-action at a much higher rate than his previous six starts. Dart was in total control, leading the Giants deep into Bears territory to build on a 17-7 lead when he fumbled.
Dart’s early exit led to Russell Wilson being reinserted into the lineup. It mostly flew under the radar in the excitement of Dart taking over as the starter, but it was a mistake to only demote Wilson to the No. 2 role when he got benched.
Wilson got benched for good reason, and he continued to look totally shot when given extended playing time in the fourth quarter on Sunday. It’s fitting that his lone positive play was a 41-yard pass to Devin Singletary, which the running back caught short of the sticks on third-and-1 but broke a tackle before tight-roping down the sideline for a 41-yard gain.
That drive ended with Koo’s short field goal after Wilson tried to scramble on third-and-goal from the 2-yard line and had no explosiveness as an opening closed abruptly on him.
The Giants went three-and-out on Wilson’s next two drives as the lead dwindled. Wilson had an opportunity to be the hero when the Giants got the ball at their 35-yard line with 1:47 remaining after Williams’ 17-yard touchdown run gave the Bears a 24-20 lead.
Aside from an 11-yard scramble, the drive was a mess, with Wilson turtling up in the pocket and a costly drop from Wan’Dale Robinson. Wilson was hit as he threw a fourth-and-10 pass that fell incomplete.
It was obvious that Daboll had no faith in Wilson when the coach urgently checked on Dart in the medical tent during a concussion exam in Week 6 to see if the rookie would be back in time to finish the drive. That indiscretion cost Daboll $100,000 and the organization $200,000.
The Giants need to make Winston, who is slated to be the backup next season, the No. 2 quarterback for the rest of the season. That could mean a start next week depending on Dart’s progress through the concussion protocol.
Anatomy of a collapse
It looked like the Giants’ defense was making an inspired statement through three quarters. The Bears came in averaging 26.9 points per game, which ranked sixth in the NFL. The Giants held them to seven points until a field goal in the final seconds of the third quarter.
The defense appeared to slam the door shut when it forced a turnover on downs with 8:41 remaining after Koo’s field goal gave the Giants a 20-10 advantage. But the defense’s lack of closers doomed the Giants again.
Pass rushers had countless opportunities to sack Williams, but he repeatedly wiggled out of harm’s way. The two times the Giants did get Williams to the ground Sunday, the sacks were negated by penalties in the secondary.
Williams avoided outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux on a third-and-10 and hit tight end Colston Loveland for a 20-yard gain to jumpstart Chicago’s first scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Later in the drive, Williams beat linebacker Bobby Okereke to the edge and scrambled for a 29-yard gain to the Giants’ 2. A touchdown pass to a wide-open Rome Odunze on the next play cut the Giants’ lead to 20-17 with 3:56 remaining.
After a quick three-and-out by the offense and a brutal 26-yard shank by punter Jamie Gillan, the defense again had an opportunity to finish the game. But the Bears effortlessly drove 53 yards for the game-winning touchdown in just four plays.
Williams connected with rookie wide receiver Luther Burden for a 27-yard gain on a comeback route against rookie cornerback Korie Black, who rotated with Deonte Banks throughout the game. Banks had two costly penalties to set up a Bears field goal and appeared to blow the coverage on the Odunze touchdown, so the coaches instead went with a seventh-round pick on the game’s most critical drive.
One play later, Williams faked a handoff and booted around the left edge that had been vacated by outside linebacker Brian Burns. Safety Tyler Nubin couldn’t get off a block, and defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris hopelessly pursued Williams as he raced 17 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
CALEB TAKES IT HIMSELF FOR THE LEAD ‼️
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/CwkwRX47P3
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 9, 2025
The Giants have now allowed an NFL high 115 points in the fourth quarter. That includes the 33 points they allowed in a 33-32 collapse against the Broncos in Week 7. They also allowed 20 points in the fourth quarter of their 40-37 overtime loss to the Cowboys in Week 2.
It’s no surprise the defense can’t finish games because no one makes any plays. The Giants didn’t record a sack or a takeaway on Sunday. It was the sixth time this season they’ve failed to record a takeaway. Their six takeaways are tied for 29th in the league. Even with everything they have invested in their pass rush, they are only 18th in sacks.
“I wish I had the answer, but this is like the fourth game we’ve beat ourselves in the fourth quarter,” Burns said. “Putting together three great quarters and then not finishing — I don’t know. That’s a tough question to answer.”
