Is 49ers-Giants the worst Monday Night Football game ever?

On Monday night, we’re going to sit down and watch the San Francisco 49ers host the New York Giants at Levi’s Stadium. God help us.

Joe Montana duels with John Elway. Brett Favre honors his dad. Bo Jackson runs to Tacoma. Howard Cosell delivers tragic news to a nation.

Monday Night Football has been an American institution since 1970, the longest running primetime show in the country. It has spanned two networks and was once considered a revolutionary in the world of sports, showcasing that the genre could live under the lights.

Now, after all the progress made in almost 50 years of the show, behold. It’s the San Francisco 49ers. It’s the New York Giants. It’s a combined record of 3-13. It’s Monday Night Football.

But is it the worst game in the history of Monday night? Depends on your criteria.

In 1975, the San Diego Chargers (RIP) and New York Jets hooked up in Week 14 for a dozy. The combined records of the two teams was 4-22 coming into the game, but somehow had a lower winning percentage than the disaster about to be witnessed, at .182 to .188. That affair holds the record in a non-strike year for the lowest winning percentage of an MNF game from November on.

On that infamous night in San Diego, at least the viewers got to see two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Dan Fouts and Joe Namath battling it out. Sure, Fouts only threw for 86 yards on 11 attempts, and a decrepit Namath tossed a couple of interceptions, but it was still Fouts and Namath. Hell, there were two other men playing that night who eventually received gold jackets in John Riggins and Fred Dean.

This time around, we get the immortal Nick Mullens playing the counterpart to Eli Manning. Manning was once terrific, now he should be bagging groceries at the nearest WaWa.

With a combined record of 3-13, the Giants and 49ers becoming the first tandem in the history of Monday Night Football to play in November or later with so few wins between the two. Some matchups have come close, but New York and San Francisco take the proverbial cake, albeit a sour, half-eaten-by-your-dog cake.

All of this is enough for many to stomp their feet and wonder why Monday night games can’t be flexed in the same way that Sunday night games are. The reason? Travel. Teams book their traveling plans months in advance, and changing hotel reservations and other accommodations would be a logistical nightmare. Switching a contest from Sunday morning to the evening doesn’t alter any of that, making the flex possible.

Ultimately, this abomination of a football game being on Monday night is the combination of bad luck and poor planning. The 49ers were one of the hottest teams coming into the season, only to have Jimmy Garoppolo blow out his knee in Week 3. The Giants were miserable last year, but some believed they would rebound behind a star-studded offense. Instead, the bottom continued to fall out.

The Worldwide Leader could have gone with the Los Angeles Chargers and Oakland Raiders (Oakland was defensible before the season). It could have picked the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the New Orleans Saints. Hell, the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks, anybody?

Nope, we get the 49ers and Giants.

If you have any household chores to do, Monday is the time. Need to cut the lawn with a pair of scissors? Get out there! Need to sweep the two-mile long driveway with a toothbrush? Let’s go! Been dreaming of that free time to rearrange heavy, oblong furniture in a cramped room? Get it done!

Or, or, sit down and watch New York and San Francisco play the worst Monday night game in at least 43 years.