I desperately wanted the Giants to get rid of Kevin Gilbride for a long time because I couldn’t stand to watch another third-and-7 draw to the third-string running back for a two-yard gain. I couldn’t take an unnecessary amount of drives created by passing stall in the red zone thanks to an awful running game. So I welcomed the hiring of Ben McAdoo as the Giants’ new offensive coordinator before the 2014 season because I thought change was needed even if Gilbride has been the offensive coordinator for Super Bowl XLII and XLVI.

Eli Manning quickly became a more accurate passer with McAdoo as the offensive coordinator, though the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. could be the reason for that and McAdoo’s entire tenure with the Giants might be one big smoke-and-mirrors act built solely on having the best wide receiver in football on his team. (Let’s hope this isn’t the case.) McAdoo wasn’t exactly the coordinator I thought he would be after being the quarterbacks coach for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, and, if anything, he was more Gilbride than not.

I have spent the last two seasons wondering why third downs were going through Preston Parker and why Andre Williams was asked to get a critical yard or why a four-man running back rotation became a thing. I made jokes about McAdoo’s facial hair and questioned whether or not he used a four-restaurant chain rotation to eat at every night between T.G.I Friday’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s and Ruby Tuesdays similar to the running back rotation he created with Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams, Shane Vereen and Orleans Darkwa.

The minute Tom Coughlin was fired and it became more and more apparent that McAdoo would be the next Giants head coach, which seemed like the exact plan ownership had instilled when they hired him two years ago, I got sick. The Giants are going to hand over the franchise to a 38-year-old with zero head coaching experience and a goatee that instantly takes away some of his credibility? How did we get here? (Well, I actually I know how we got here and it started in the final minute in Dallas in Week 1.)

The more I thought about it, I actually talked myself into Ben McAdoo being the next head coach of the New York Football Giants. It’s half because I know the Giants are going to make him the next head coach and half because there isn’t a better option out there. There are three reasons ownership is going to pick McAdoo and the rest of these interviews are all for show.

1. Eli Manning
In the two seasons with Ben McAdoo as his offensive coordinator, Eli Manning has thrown for 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions, completing 62.8 percent of his passes for the best two seasons of his career. Unfortunately, the two seasons were all for nothing thanks to the Giants’ defense.

Eli spent the first 10 seasons of his career under the same offense before Kevin Gilbride “resigned” (the same way Tom Coughlin resigned) and the Giants brought in the Packers’ quarterback coach, McAdoo. Eli struggled through the beginning of the 2014 season under the new offense before the debut of Odell Beckham Jr. mainly because he was the only player on the offense who seemed to fully grasp the complexities of the new system and the intricate hand signals. Last week, Eli told Mike Francesa on WFAN that he could see McAdoo being the next head coach and has enjoyed playing in his system. Now I don’t expect Eli to say on the biggest sports radio program in the country that he doesn’t like McAdoo if he really doesn’t, but I also don’t think he would go out of his way to say the things he did say if he didn’t actually like him. And if Eli didn’t actually like McAdoo, he would have already been fired because the franchise quarterback gets to pick who his coordinator is.

After spending a decade in basically the same offense followed by two years learning a new one, which produced the best two years of his career, there’s no way the front office wants Eli to learn yet another offense at 35 years old having the success he had with McAdoo. If McAdoo is the head coach then he’s like also the offensive coordinator calling the playoffs. If he’s not the coach or Steve Spagnuolo isn’t the coach, then the new coach is going to have the opportunity to pick his own staff and it’s more than likely that McAdoo won’t be part of it. No new head coach is going to want ownership’s Golden Boy on his staff always lurking in the background as a replacement at any time.

2. The Giants’ Family Tree
The Giants aren’t going to hire a head coach that doesn’t have some sort of connection to the Giants. Once upon a time, Tom Coughlin was the Giants’ wide receivers coach (1988-90) and also happened to be the head coach of John Mara’s alma mater (Boston College). Jim Fassel had been the Giants’ quarterbacks’ coach and offensive coordinator (1991-92). Ray Handley had been part of the Giants’ staff, including as offensive coordinator (1984-90). Bill Parcells had been the Giants’ defensive coordinator (1979 and 1981-82). The only exception since the Parcells era, which began in 1983, was Dan Reeves, who was the Giants’ third choice and only hired after the coach they wanted decided to stay with his college team. That coach was Tom Coughlin.

McAdoo has now been part of the Giants’ family for two seasons and that gives him a leg up on any outsiders like Adam Gase (no, thank you), Lovie Smith (please, no) or Mike Smith (NOOOOOOOOOO!). The only person who matches him here is Steve Spagnuolo, but McAdoo is younger (38) than Spagnuolo (56) and Spagnuolo’s stint as Rams head coach and the Giants’ defensive performance this season has to hurt him head-to-head against McAdoo even with McAdoo having no head coaching experience.

3. Continuity
The Giants were 6-10 this season, but could have been 12-4 if they had finished off the Cowboys, Falcons, Saints, Patriots, Jets and Eagles, and even 9-7 if they finish off half of those teams, and that would have given them a postseason berth and Tom Coughlin would still be the head coach. The Giants aren’t as bad as their record suggests (sorry, Bill Parcells) and aren’t in need of a complete overhaul.

The Giants got their out to get rid of Coughlin, but it makes no sense to retain Jerry Reese if they’re then going to risk losing McAdoo and Spagnuolo by going outside the organization for a new head coach. The Giants were in playoff contention until Week 16 and should have been a playoff team. They will return the core of their offense in 2016, will get back injured players on defense and have a lot of salary cap space to fix some holes through free agency. The Giants are going to be a contender again in 2016 and there’s no way the front office wants to push the team in a completely new direction.

Tom Coughlin should still be the Giants’ head coach. Unfortunately, he’s not. But just because ownership wanted him out doesn’t mean they want what to destroy what they built.

Someone will win Super Bowl 50, but it won’t be the Giants. Unfortunately, this column is becoming an annual thing because of the Giants’ inability to reach the postseason.

1. Vikings
My girlfriend is a Vikings fan, so with the Giants out of the playoffs, I’m an honorary Vikings fan. (Hopefully, this goes better than when I became an honorary “12” for the Super Bowl after going to the NFC Championship Game in Seattle.)

2. Broncos
If the Broncos hadn’t been able to win home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs, then writing all of this wouldn’t have mattered because the Patriots would be going to the Super Bowl and the only that would matter is backing whichever NFC team reached Santa Clara. But at home in a potential AFC Championship Game where the Broncos beat the Patriots two seasons ago, well I can get on board with that happening.

The return of Peyton Manning in Week 17 to clinch home-field advantage and now healthy and ready for the postseason could be the start of the best end to a career since John Elway. Peyton is going to need a second Super Bowl win to be considered the greatest quarterback ever and not just the greatest regular-season quarterback ever. He had his chance in Super Bowl XLIV and again in XVIII and I hope he gets the chance again in 50 because that will mean the Patriots won’t be there.

3. Texans
The Texans have no chance of winning the Super Bowl. Zero chance. They actually shouldn’t even have a postseason spot because of their zero chance they have of winning. (This also goes for the Redskins.) But one can imagine how fun it would be for Brian Hoyer to be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

4. Cardinals
In 2013, Bruce Arians’ Cardinals finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs because of the deep NFC West, while the 8-7-1- Packers won their division and hosted a first-round game. Last season, Arians lost Carson Palmer for Weeks 2, 3 and 5 (they had a bye in Week 4), and then to a season-ending injury in Week 10. The Cardinals went 6-0 when Palmer was their quarterback and 5-5 when he wasn’t. The Cardinals then lost Drew Stanton and had to start Ryan Lindley in the playoffs and there they lost to the Panthers. The Cardinals are finally in the postseason with a real starting quarterback, but fr as much as I would like to see Arians win it all, I can’t say the same about Carson Palmer.

5. Bengals
A.J. McCarron believes he can go on a Tom Brady-like run and mirror what Brady started and did 13 years ago. He has the offensive weapons to do so and the defense to back him, so it’s not that outrageous to think McCarron could lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl as long as he doesn’t ruin a postseason game for them. Being a Bengal and having Marvin Lewis as his head coach in the playoffs is working against him and that might be too much to overcome.

6. Chiefs
Andy Reid as a Super Bowl-winning head coach? Alex Smith as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback? Kansas City as Super Bowl champions just three months after winning the World Series? Hey, it could happen.

7. Panthers
The Cam Newton MVP and hype train is insufferable, but at least he’s deserving of the attention he gets and it’s not like he’s the one giving himself the attention. I’m not rooting against the Panthers though I’m not rooting against them, I just can’t see them beating the Patriots if it came to that next month and that’s really what this is all about. And let’s not forget …

I’m still mad at the Panthers for their Super Bowl XXXVIII loss to the Patriots that gave the Patriots their second Super Bowl in three years. And I’m still mad at the Panthers, well mainly just Jake Delhomme, for destroying that divisional round game against the Cardinals in 2008 with five interceptions, costing me the Panthers -10 pick.

8. Steelers
If Ben Roethlisberger wins a third Super Bowl then we’ll have to hear the hot takes like “Is Ben Roethlisberger the best quarterback of all time?” and he’ll certainly be given the nod as the best quarterback of the 2004 draft class over Eli Manning and I can’t stand for that.

9. Redskins
I already don’t like that I have to root for the Giants’ division rival in the first round this Saturday and I certainly wouldn’t want to see them win the Super Bowl or even get there for that matter. We saw what the Redskins did against the Patriots this season, and after Pete Carroll handed them a championship last season, we don’t need the Patriots being given anymore championships.

10. Seahawks
After Pete Carroll’s goal-line decision in the Super Bowl, I promised myself I would never root for the Seahawks again unless they were playing the Patriots in the Super Bowl again. The last thing I want to see is Carroll and Russell Wilson hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, a year after they gave it to the Patriots, pretending like last year never happened. If the duo wins again, it would overshadow what happened last year and I need that to be their lasting Super Bowl memory after ending the Patriots’ nine-year championship drought.

11. Packers
Let me remind you of how the Packers’ seasons have ended in the Aaron Rodgers era:

2008: Missed playoffs
2009: Lost in wild-card round
2010: Won Super Bowl
2011: Lost in divisional round (first game)
2012: Lost in divisional round after beating Joe Webb and the Vikings in the Wild-Card round
2013: Lost in wild-card round
2014: Lost in the NFC Championship after blowing a 12-point lead with just over two minutes left

In the seven years with Rodgers as the starter, the Packers have won six playoff games with four of them coming in the same year. And if the “Miracle at the Meadowlands” doesn’t happen, the Packers don’t even make the playoffs in 2010 let alone win the Super Bowl. If the Packers win the Super Bowl, the never-ending praise for Rodgers is only going to get worse.

I’m so sick of Aaron Rodgers. The idea that he’s the best quarterback in the world is ridiculous and the excuses made for him because his receivers are Randall Cobb, James Jones and Davante Adams are disgusting. That trio would go down as one of the best trios Tom Brady would have ever had in his career, yet when Rodgers isn’t successful with them, it’s not his fault, it’s theirs.

12. Patriots
From the 2010 playoffs:

There is no way I want the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. None at all. I would rather walk across the George Washington Bridge naked, during rush hour, while it’s freezing rain than see the Patriots win.

From last year’s playoffs:

I’m scared that this is the year the Patriots finish the job after losing two Super Bowls, three AFC Championship Games, two divisional round losses, a wild-card round loss and a missed postseason over the last nine years. But the one thing keeping me from penciling the Patriots in as the Super Bowl XLXI champion is Mike Hurley telling me that he has seen better Patriots team he thought would win the Super Bowl and they didn’t.

The Patriots have to lose.

Well, they didn’t. Thanks, Pete Carroll. The only way to put even the slightest dent in what happened last year is if the Broncos beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game and then Peyton Manning wins the Super Bowl and rides off into the sunset as a champion. This has to happen.