Mercifully, the New York Giants have just three games remaining in another debacle of a season.

Their next task is to welcome the 6-8 Minnesota Vikings to MetLife Stadium (1 p.m. ET, FOX) in hopes of ending an eight-game losing streak that has them sitting at 2-12 with a firm grasp on the No. 1 overall pick at the 2026 NFL Draft. 

Here is what to watch for:

Playing for pride, but at what cost?

Interim head coach Mike Kafka has yet to win a game since taking over for Brian Daboll, which certainly is not helping his prospects at getting a permanent head-coaching job anywhere in this league. 

Finishing the 2025 season on a strong note would help his prospects, but it would also derail the Giants’ hopes of securing that No. 1 pick, which they could potentially trade to a quarterback-needy franchise for additional future assets. 

This is a dilemma Giants fans have been facing far too often in recent years: Win for the culture or tank for the top spot? More often than not, a few late “culture wins” have moved Big Blue down the draft board. 

Of course, coaches and players fighting for jobs don’t care about that.

“The main goal is to win. We wanna win,” Kafka said on Wednesday. “There’s no substitute for that. I think our guys are playing their tails off, and I appreciate that. We have to continue to find a way to continue to push a little bit more. Where is our edge that we can find to get us over the hump to win a game? We’re battling, we’re playing hard. We need more of that if we want to win.”

Kickin’ it

The Giants waived Younghoe Koo after missing a pair of field goals in their Week 14, 29-21 loss to the Washington Commanders. 

Ben Sauls appears to be the only option, for now, as he would be elevated from the practice squad to be New York’s fifth different kicker this season. 

He probably can’t fare much worse than what the Giants have gotten from Jamie Gillan, Jude McAtamney, and Greg Joseph this season after Graham Gano once again got hurt. The Pitt product made 52 of 64 field goals and 122 of 124 extra points during his collegiate career at Pitt. 

Can Carter do it again?

For the first time since taking him No. 3 overall out of Penn State in April, rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter looked like the game wrecker he was advertised to be. 

After being benched twice in the previous three games, Carter came out of the bye week to terrorize Washington, which featured a strip sack, three tackles for a loss, and a forced fumble with a recovery late in the game to give the Giants an opportunity to tie the game. 

While star edge rusher Brian Burns labeled it as a “coming-out party” for Carter, veteran defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence.

“Yeah, [he did it] for one week,” Lawrence said. “Greatness is doing it over weeks. Being consistent. That’s what he can get to. He’s just got to stick with the process and understand who he is and keep that approach to the game every week.”

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