John Mara, Giants are biggest losers of Eagles-Commanders NFC Championship matchup

The Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs produced an all NFC East affair for the NFC Championship Game after the Washington Commanders' shocking upset of No. 1 seed Detroit Lions on Saturday night while the Philadelphia Eagles rode another 200+ yard rushing day from Saquon Barkley past the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday afternoon.

The result has to be frustrating for fans of the other two NFC East teams, who now know one of their bitter rivals is on their way to the Super Bowl.

While fans of the Dallas Cowboys are very salty that every team in the NFC has been to the NFC Championship Game more recently than they have, this game is actually far worse for fans of the New York Giants. Owner John Mara, in particular, will be living through his worst nightmare next Sunday.

The Giants are the biggest losers of an Eagles-Commanders NFC Championship Game

A lot of the reasons the Giants' organization must feel sick after these postseason results dates back to the 2023 season, when the Tommy Cutlets era produced a pair of meaningless wins over Washington and New England in November. Those victories dropped the Giants all the way down to No. 6 in the NFL Draft, putting them out of range of one of the top quarterbacks, including head coach Brian Daboll's personal favorite: Jayden Daniels.

The Giants' appearance on Hard Knocks: Offseason showed how much Daboll liked Daniels during the pre-draft process and even saw general manager Joe Schoen's son implore his father to trade up for Daniels. Schoen did make some phone calls to try and move up in the draft but was unsuccessful, instead watching Daniels go to Washington and he was forced to settle for receiver Malik Nabers instead.

Mara also has to wonder about his own what-if scenario with Schoen, who has made his fair share of questionable roster decisions since taking over prior to the 2022 season, especially since his final call came down to Schoen and Adam Peters, who has presided over Washington's turnaround from 4-13 team that picked second in the draft to one win from the Super Bowl in one season.

There is also the obvious elephant in the room of Barkley, who racked up 205 yards on the ground with two long rushing touchdowns to send Philadelphia to the NFC title game. Mara infamously told Schoen on Hard Knocks: Offseason that he would be sick if Barkley went to the Eagles, and Barkley has made that clip infamous after rushing for over 2,000 yards during the regular season and buried the Rams on a snowy Sunday in Philadelphia.

In essence, a few meaningless regular season wins in a lost season and a bad personnel decision from Schoen put the Giants way behind the eight ball in their own division for years to come. This postseason has been nothing but nightmare fuel for Mara and his fan base, who now have to stare at the possibility of one of their division rivals hoisting a Lombardi Trophy with the knowledge that New York heavily contributed to those successes.