Sometime around 5 o’clock Sunday evening inside a narrow interview room in the bowels of Ford Field, Giants interim coach Mike Kafka was asked if he still had “full confidence’’ in defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.
“Yeah, I do,’’ Kafka said. “I have a lot of confidence in Shane and his entire staff.’’
That vote of confidence came minutes after the Giants lost 34-27 in overtime to the Lions in what was the team’s fifth blown-lead loss in the fourth quarter this season and its fifth loss this season after holding a double-digit lead, which tied a dubious NFL record.
Some 15 hours after that Kafka public vote of confidence, the news of Kafka firing Bowen surfaced on Monday morning.
Why now? What changed?
“I just had an opportunity to watch the tape [and] look back at a few weeks, watch a lot, watch a lot of the defense, watch a lot of what was kind of going on, the communication,’’ Kafka said Monday. “And [I] just felt like this was the right time to do it. When I got the job, I didn’t want to make a lot of rash decisions and jump to anything really quick. I wanted to have some time to sit back, evaluate it, look at it, and kind of figure out what, what the best thing to do was.
“You wanted to be calculated in how I handled it, and I thought that today was the right time.’’
Mike Kafka during the Giants’ loss to the Lions on Nov. 23, 2025. Getty Images
That makes it sound like Kafka had gone into Sunday’s game with firing Bowen on his mind.
“Obviously, these decisions aren’t easy,’’ Kafka said. “Shane’s a good person, he’s a good man, he’s a good coach. It’s just [that] the results just weren’t where we wanted him to be.’’
Kafka said it was his decision to fire Bowen. He said he consulted with general manager Joe Schoen and that Schoen “loops’’ ownership in “on all our decisions.’’
“They’re on the same page, and they’re supporting us,’’ Kafka said of ownership.
The Giants fired Shane Bowen on Monday. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
So now their 30th-ranked defense — allowing 385 yards and 27.8 points per game — has been handed over to outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen, who was named the interim defensive coordinator.
Bullen, popular among the players, has never before held a defensive coordinator position. Kafka said Bullen will be calling the defense.
“Charlie is going to kind of step up for us and rally the group, the defensive staff will rally around Charlie and put together a great plan,’’ Kafka said. “I have a lot of faith in Charlie and the pedigree that he brings coming into this defense. He’s a smart coach, he’s detailed, he’s aggressive and his room has had a lot of production.
“I think he’s ready for the task … I know he’s ready for the task. We’re going to give Charlie the reins to go and make the corrections that he sees fit for the defense — whether it’s personnel, scheme, communication [or] calls.
“He’s going to work hand-in-hand with the whole defensive unit to make sure that it’s his vision on how he sees it. Obviously, I’ll have my fingerprint on there as well.’’
When Kafka was asked what he saw on film that spurred him to move on from Bowen, he sidestepped the question, but said, “Here’s what I’m excited about: I saw a group of guys, a group of men, step up and battle and take a really good team [the Lions], toe to toe.
“So, there’s a lot of good things that came out of that game from the coaching staff. There’s some areas where we continue to improve. We’ll have meetings and find where we can build a little bit of an edge on defense, offense and special teams.
“Then, we’ll go and put together a great plan for practice to attack those edges and figure out where we can find a way to just get a little bit better. That’s going to be our messaging to the coaches and the players. No one’s panicking. No one’s down in the dumps. Our spirits are high. Our spirits are confident.
“Now, it’s about putting together a great plan, then go and execute that.’’