Mike Francesa started his radio show today on WFan 660AM, once again without his chummy little minion, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, with an obvious agenda. Save Tom Coughlin's job.

After a weekend of embarrassment for one New York team, and a weekend of promise for the other, Mike Francesa chose to open his pathetic show with a breakdown of the Giants/Eagles playoff game followed by a plea to the tri-state listeners to ignore all the negative media that Giant's coach Tom Coughlin receives and hope that the coach returns next year to fulfill the rest of his contract.

Why you ask?

Because according to Francesa, there is no one to replace him.

Tom Coughlin's head has been on the chopping block for weeks now because his unruly, undisciplined and crippled Giants team has continued to underachieve. A team that started off 6-2, and had been picked by many to be the team to beat in the NFC, fell flat on it's face as the season came to an end, finishing with a putrid 8-8 record, allowing them to barely squeak into the playoffs. A playoff win would have helped erase some of the pain Giant fans have endured this year, but as per usual, the Giants lost to the Eagles, 23-20.

Now Francesa and Dog have been big cheerleaders for Coughlin all year. Actually, since he was hired as Giant's head coach three years ago. They have refused to blame him for player outbursts, by Tiki Barber, Plaxico Burress, Jeremy Shockey and Michael Strahan, injuries to key players and players taking plays off. Mike and Chris have decided that these infractions are the players' faults, not the coaches. They have dismissed all media accounts of Coughlin coaching to save his job, saying that the players are the problem, not the head coach.

Francesa is convinced that if deceased owner, Wellington Mara, were still around, that we would never be talking about firing Coughlin. According to Francesa, "Wellington Mara would not fire Tom Coughlin today. No shot."

Instead, he thinks Mara would have been praising his head coach because the Giants have made the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time in 16 years. Even though they were both losses.

Now Francesa did admit that the New York Giants head coach was not perfect. He did say that some of the negative media that Coughlin receives is his fault. And that Coughlin does catch some heat for the player injuries and lack of discipline on the field, but insists that firing the coach is not the answer.

Francesa believes that Coughlin has earned the right (don't ask me how) to finish out his contract, and deserves a chance to coach for a new one. He thinks that firing Coughlin would set the franchise back, and that hiring a new coach is not the answer. If the Giants decided to let Coughlin go, who would they hire, Francesa wonders over the air waves. With no clear replacement, the move would be senseless. According to the horse racing expert, no matter who the coach is, the players would still be here, and they are the problem, so you might as well keep him around for another year.

That's where Francesa is wrong.

The New York Giants are a team in complete chaos. The players do more talking to newspaper reports than they do to each other. They commit more and more costly penalties. They are completely erratic on both ends of the ball, and the absolute definition of a Jekyll and Hyde team. The team has no identity.

Coughlin is a big reason for all of this. He is out of touch with his players and has lost the team. He has turned all of New York media (except Mike and the Mad Dog) against him with a surly attitude. And most important of all, he hasn't won. You would have a hard time trying to find a team that has done less with this much talent.

Is firing Coughlin the answer to all of the Giants problems?

No.

The players are to blame too. They need to rid themselves of these guys who like to talk the talk, but always fail to walk the walk. This team is loaded with "me first" players. During the off season, the Giants should see what they can do to rid themselves of some of these guys, and see if they can build some team chemistry that used to exist in the mid 80's to early 90's. Then maybe they can get back to winning divisions and winning Super Bowls.

The first step toward that goal is handing Tom Coughlin a pink slip.

Enjoy the early vacation, Tom. It's on the Giants.