The New York Giants fired defensive coordinator Shane Bowen on Monday (November 24), hours after the defense blew yet another double-digit lead to fall to 2-10, interim head coach Mike Kafka announced during his press conference via the New York Post.

“I just had an opportunity to watch the tape (and) look back at a few weeks, watch a lot, watch a lot of the defense, watch a lot of what was kind of going on, the communication,’’ Kafka said. “And (I) just felt like this was the right time to do it. When I got the job, I didn’t want to make a lot of rash decisions and jump to anything really quick. I wanted to have some time to sit back, evaluate it, look at it, and kind of figure out what, what the best thing to do was.

“You wanted to be calculated in how I handled it, and I thought that today was the right time.’’

Bowen's defense allowed at least a 10-point lead slip away five times during the 2025 season, which ties for an NFL record. The firing also came two weeks after the team dismissed head coach Brian Daboll.

Bowen, 38, was hired by Daboll as a replacement for Wink Martindale before the 2024 season. The Giants ranked 30th overall in both total defense with 385 yards allowed per game and scoring defense with 27.8 points allowed per game, having also ranked in the bottom half of both categories during the 2024 NFL season.

New York had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 34-27 loss to the Detroit Lions, allowing a 69-yard touchdown by Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs on the first play of overtime.

Voorhees