The Top 10 NFL season finale games of the past decade
By Erik Lambert
05. New York Giants at Washington Redskins (2010)
Most people don’t remember this game because it didn’t have any playoff implications in the end. Instead it had a far greater impact on the season to come. How so? To understand one must know the backstory. Coming into that game, the Giants were reeling. They’d just suffered one of the worst defeats in franchise history two weeks prior, blowing a 21-point lead in the final seven minutes against Philadelphia to lose the division.
A week later they were blown out by Green Bay. So going into the finale, the team was surrounded by questions. None more so than head coach Tom Coughlin. His job was already on shaky ground given three rather disappointing seasons following their Super Bowl title in 2007. If this year ended with three ugly losses including one to the 6-9 Redskins? It might get him fired.
The Giants jumped to a 10-0 lead early but Washington didn’t make it easy. With six minutes left they closed the gap to 17-14. New York executed a drive to bleed three minutes off the clock but the Redskins still got it back with two minutes left. Thankfully their drive petered out. The Giants escaped and finished the year 10-6. Still a respectable record despite not reaching the postseason.
That was apparently enough to convince ownership to give Coughlin one more year. He didn’t waste it, guiding the team to a second Super Bowl title in 2011.