KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Giants are now officially embarking on unfamiliar territory.
Their slow-bleed 31-7 loss to the Chiefs Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium — a defeat that left them with a stunning 0-4 record and reeling in a collective state of shock — has rendered the final three-quarters of this season garbage time.
This is the most dangerous stage of all in team sports. When hope of a successful season has been dashed, players tend to separate, pointing fingers of blame and teams quickly unravel. We see it in all sports when teams tumble from contention — particularly teams that entered a season with lofty hopes.
Teams like the Giants.
Going forward from 38-0 a week ago in Carolina and 31-7 Sunday in Kansas City, it will be incumbent on the veterans inside the Giants locker room to hold this together and prevent it from becoming uglier than it already has been on the field.
“I’m depending heavily on the leadership and the character of the guys in that locker room,’’ Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said after the game. “I’ll take the lead and try to the best I can to — come Wednesday — give them some information that I think will help them prepare for the next opponent and pick ourselves back up.’’
There is only so much Coughlin can do, though.
The likes of defensive veterans Justin Tuck, Antrel Rolle and offensive veterans Eli Manning, Hakeem Nicks and Kevin Boothe will need to police a locker room that could come unglued with another loss or two, because this has potential to become very unsightly if the locker room divides.
“It’s hard to believe that this team is two years removed from being the best team in the world,’’ Tuck said. “It’s cliché to say, but I wish somebody would pinch me so I would wake up.’’
Coughlin delivered a strong message to his players last week when he told them: “If we’re fed up with how we’re playing, we’ll do something about it.’’
“Obviously,’’ Tuck said Sunday, “we’re not fed up yet.’’
If the Giants were fed up, they would have converted more than 1-of-14 on third down and made more than five first downs in the second half. They would have prevented Chiefs punt returner Dexter McCluster from taking a Steve Weatherford punt 89 yards for a touchdown to bust open a close game in the third quarter.
Not counting the strike year in 1987, this is the first time Giants have been 0-4 since 1979.
“That’s a hell of a thing to have your name attached to,’’ Tuck said. “It feels like crap. Every time you go on that football field with the ‘NY’ on the helmet you realize all the great ones that came before you, all the champions. It’s hard walking in the locker room looking at your owner’s face when you’re 0-4. How did you think it feels? It feels like [bleep].
“[But] we’re not going to be separated. I know before the day is over you all [media] are going to try to pin offense against defense. That’s not going to happen. We’re a team. My thought process is this: We’ve got a great opportunity to shock the world, because nobody’s giving us a shot.’’
Only one team since the AFL/NFL merger in 1970 has started a season 0-4 and made it to the playoffs — the 1992 Chargers, so make the Giants’ chances of getting to the playoffs into whatever you’d like. The bottom line is that it is just south of grim for them.
As Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas walked quietly from the losers’ hushed locker room, he said, “I’m not used to losing. I came from a winning program in high school and college and the Giants are a winning organization. It’s very important that we stick together. You can worry [about dissension], but that’s not the makeup of this team. We’re not turning on each other.’’
Nicks, one of the last players out of the locker room, offered a fairy tale script when he pondered the harried state of the team.
“This,’’ he said, “is just going to make for a better story in the end.’’