The obvious became official Sunday: The New York Giants will not make the playoffs.
Big Blue was officially eliminated from playoff contention with their eighth straight loss, falling 31-13 at home to the Green Bay Packers. The Giants were also swept by the NFC North.
Sitting at 2-10, coach Pat Shurmur knows the pressure is on to show any sort of pulse down the stretch.
"I'm well aware of it," Shurmur said, via SNY. "People will change what they think of us and me when we win games."
Sitting at 2-10 in his second season, Shurmur currently owns a 7-21 record after 28 games as the Giants' head coach. It's worth noting that New York fired Ben McAdoo after 28 games when he had a 2-10 record in his second year. Of course, McAdoo also went 11-5 and made the playoffs in his first season and ended his tenure with a 13-15 record.
"I'm a realist when it comes to that and I get it," Shurmur said. "And you know what? When you don't win, I expect what is written and said and what people think. I expect fans to be upset because we are, too. But we go about trying to fix it."
The coach, whose offense has scored 20 points fewer in seven games this season, will also play the youth card, noting that his team is still in rebuild mode with a lot of first- and second-year players holding key roles.
"This is a historically young team that's going out there and competing against some really good football teams," he said. "We've got to do what we have to do to win games and I understand that. They also are developing.
"At some point, we'll be good enough to win."
Whether Shurmur is around to see that point remains a looming question.