Tom Coughlin: Would Giants Coach Consider Retiring If Team Goes on One Last Run?

It was one of the craziest and more dramatic finishes to a Giants season in recent history.

At 7-7, the Giants looked absolutely finished. And they did not look like a playoff team.

Yet, here we are two weeks later, with the Giants—at 9-7 and NFC East division winners of 2011—facing a first-round date with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

The Giants have won two in a row going into the game with Atlanta by decisively beating the New York Jets and Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants are getting hot going into the playoffs, which is a very good thing for Big Blue.

As we have seen in the playoffs, it's not always the best team that wins the Super Bowl; it's usually the hottest team. Take the Green Bay Packers of last year.

Green Bay got in on the final day of the regular season, steamrolled through January, won the Super Bowl, then proceeded to start out 2011 13-0.

Or, you can even take the Giants team of 2007, who finished 10-6, got hot in January and went right through the NFC and upset the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Two of the biggest reasons why the Giants were able to pull off their magical run in 2007 was Eli Manning playing extremely well and their defense, which was lead by a feared pass rush.

Fast forward to the 2011 season, and the Giants will be entering the playoffs with three of the same factors. The Giants are going in a hot team, Eli Manning is by far having his best season and the Giants pass rush is healthy and getting pressure again.

This could spell trouble for the NFC, which to me, could mean the Giants potentially could have one last playoff run under Tom Coughlin's watch.

Now, do I think the Giants can knock off the Falcons on Sunday? Yes. The Falcons under Matt Ryan have yet to win a playoff game, plus are not as good of a team on the road as they are in the Georgia Dome.

Can the Giants move on to beat the Green Bay Packers or San Francisco 49ers, both with first round byes, and could be the Giants' next opponent determining on who advances from the Saints-Lions game? Yes.

The Giants played both teams very well in the regular season, but lost both games by very close scores.

The Giants would be on the road if they played either Green Bay or San Francisco, but the Giants would be going into either game as a hot team, and momentum could carry them into a victory.

Now I know, right now, the odds of the Giants going on a 2007-like playoff run are very slim.

But, let's ask ourselves all a question. Did we think the Giants were winning the Super Bowl in 2007?

I didn't. I'm sure most of you didn't. We all expected the Patriots to go 19-0 and have the perfect season.

So before we all say it can't happen, you never know.

Which leads me to my topic of this story: Let's say the Giants do go on another magical playoff run. Would Coughlin consider retiring at the end of the season?

We all know Coughlin loves to coach and is as fiery and passionate about coaching as any other coach in the league.

He's also the oldest coach in the NFL at 65 years old right now, and generally, the 65-year old range is usually when coaches consider hanging it up for good.

Coughlin is a career 142-114 in the regular season and an 8-7 record in the playoffs with nine trips to the playoffs, five division titles, one conference championship and a Super Bowl title.

Coughlin has done everything a coach could want to do in the league. Except for winning another championship with his current team.

If that were to happen, Coughlin would then join an elite club with Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells as coaches to win multiple Super Bowls with one team. Parcells did it with the Giants in 1986 and 1990.

Even if the Giants don't go on that type of run, Coughlin is only signed on for one more year.

And we know the Giants don't have "lame duck" coaches as their team policy, so if Coughlin were to come back for 2012, he'd likely only get another one-year extension.

But does Coughlin want to go through that again in 2012 like he is now in 2011?

Could going through one final playoff appearance and one last shot at a Super Bowl be the final chapter in Coughlin's coaching career?

Nobody would blame Coughlin if he decided that he wanted to walk away on a high note rather than be kicked to the curb and get fired.

It would be the honorable way for the coach who brought the organization's third Super Bowl trophy to leave.

And I think in the end, Coughlin would rather leave on his own terms with his integrity and pride intact, rather than have to have his job be called for, like it has been in the past.

We all remember back after the 2006 season where Coughlin had to go before John Mara and explain why he should keep his job.

If not for the Super Bowl run, Coughlin would have been run out of town years ago. But the 2007 run netted him safety over the last five seasons.

During the last two seasons, people have called for Coughlin's job because of two straight December collapses, and if a third one happened, Coughlin may not be the current coach.

So instead of wondering if he'll ever get the axe, why not let Coughlin walk away on top, on his own terms, and as a winner.

Could I see Coughlin retiring if the Giants do something great during these playoffs? Yes.

Will it happen?

Only time will tell.