How many more losses on big stages will the Giants’ John Mara take?

MUNICH – The Giants get another standalone game on a big stage this week – even if it’s not in prime time and isn’t particularly interesting (except for purposes of the 2025 NFL Draft).

It’s the 2-7 Giants against the 2-7 Panthers on Sunday afternoon – Sunday morning back in New Jersey – at the FC Bayern Munich soccer stadium.

If the Giants lose this game, it will be miserable no matter how you slice it. But it would specifically be another loss in a single game with the rest of the NFL watching. A loss to the Panthers would be nothing short of humiliating for co-owner John Mara – on multiple levels.

And it could change his stated expectation (after a 2-5 start) that coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen will return expecting to be done.

Mara’s team has already lost to the Cowboys on a Thursday night, the Bengals on a Sunday night and the Steelers on a Monday night this season. Sunday in Munich marks the Giants’ third singles game in five weeks (after the Bengals-Steelers matchups) – and fourth in seven weeks (if you include the loss to Dallas in Week 4).

So not only have the Giants lost four games in a row – putting another season in jeopardy before Thanksgiving – but they also lost two of them in single games.

After Sunday in Munich, the Giants only have one more single game scheduled in their last seven games – on Thanksgiving in Dallas.

Losing standalone/primetime games is nothing new for the Giants. They did this in four of their first six games last season. (After Monday night’s loss in Pittsburgh, Daniel Jones is now 1-15 in primetime career time. That’s one of many reasons he left after this season.)

After the first six weeks of last season, the Giants only played two standalone games until the end. Both came after Jones suffered a torn ACL – Tommy DeVito’s stunning win on Monday night against the Packers and a Christmas Day loss on Monday afternoon at the Eagles.

Of course, DeVito’s win over the Packers – the Giants’ third straight win after a 2-8 start – played a major role in their missing the chance to sign Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye to replace Jones. Even if Mara’s team wins a singles match, they don’t actually win.

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Darryl Slater can be reached at [email protected].