The problems are many and time is short, so there's not a moment to spare for Pat Shurmur. A day after a devastating 38-7 loss to the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, which came just a week after a miraculous finish in a walk-off win over the Saints, Shurmur cleaned up his affairs in Minnesota and readied himself for the herculean task of rebuilding a Giants team in shambles.
The Vikings' highly accomplished offense coordinator is expected to finalize a contract to become the Giants' coach early Tuesday and then he's off to the Senior Bowl in Alabama to begin the process of fixing his new team.
It will not be an easy undertaking, nor is there a timetable for an eventual turnaround, although getting the job done yesterday would certainly be a start.
The Giants devolved into an utter mess in a 3-13 season that began with what appeared to be legitimate hope of another playoff run for second-year coach Ben McAdoo. But after all those McAdoo missteps that finally ended after his ill-fated plan to get a look at his backup quarterbacks and thereby bench two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, the Giants couldn't even live up to their vow to hold off on any changes until the offseason. McAdoo was swept aside with a month to go, and with him GM Jerry Reese.
But after settling on longtime Giants personnel man-turned-Panthers GM Dave Gettleman to take Reese's spot, there is at least some clarity moving forward. Shurmur's arrival is the latest and perhaps the most important decision of them all.
A football lifer who captained his Michigan State team to a Rose Bowl win over USC as a senior and paid his dues with assistant coaching stops at his alma mater, Stanford, the Eagles, Rams and Vikings, Shurmur has a working knowledge of what it is to be an NFL head coach. And although his two-year run with the Browns ended with a 9-23 record, there was value in the experience. If nothing else, Shurmur knows what it is to work for a dysfunctional franchise, and will quickly understand the difference in working for a much more stable setup with the Giants.
Yes, there was dysfunction in the Giants' operation last year _ a lot of it. McAdoo couldn't get out of his own way, whether it was his inability to get the offense to score points _ it never reached the 30-point mark in his two seasons as coach _ or his unwillingness to make lineup changes until it was too late. He didn't help himself either with his rejection of being an open communicator with the media _ and thus to the fans, who never got to see anything but his robotic behavior in front of the cameras. Not that talking his way through tough times was the answer, but his lack of sophistication in dealing with scrutiny and controversy was a negative.
Shurmur's personality is much more straightforward, which will benefit him mostly with his own players, who need a steady hand, a firm voice and a working knowledge of what it takes to run a football team.
It's a massive undertaking in an uncompromising market that will produce withering criticism in the event of failure. But the 52-year-old Shurmur has enough of a track record, most recently with his fine work in shepherding the Vikings' offense through injuries at quarterback and running back and an offensive line overhaul, to give himself a fighting chance.
There is a distinct path forward at quarterback _ at least in the near term _ now that the Giants have apparently decided to bring back Eli Manning for at least one more season. And with the second overall pick in the draft, there is the chance to get a blue-chip quarterback like Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen; there is also a chance the Giants will opt for Penn State running back Saquon Barkley in the event Gettleman and Shurmur consider 2017 third-round quarterback Davis Webb a suitable heir apparent to Manning.
Whatever the case, there will be a logical plan moving forward to rebuild a woefully inadequate offensive line, to figure out Odell Beckham Jr.'s long-term future now that he enters the final year of his rookie deal, and to transform an underachieving defense with presumptive new coordinator Jack Del Rio.
Shurmur's whirlwind ride resumes on Tuesday. The Giants hope that ride returns them to respectability.
