Giants Coach Mike Kafka Responds To Criticism From President Trump About Key Decision Against Lions

Mike Kafka learned this week that being the head coach of the New York Giants means there's attention on your every word, every decision and, yes, every game decision. So screw it up, and even the President of the United States has an opinion on your work.

That's exactly what happened after Sunday's overtime loss against the Detroit Lions, after which President Donald Trump questioned Kafka's key in-game decision to go for a TD on fourth-and-goal from the six yard line instead of kicking an easy field goal to extend the Giants' lead to six points.

Trump: Kafka Decision ‘Weird’

"That's weird," the President wrote on Truth Social of Kafka's choice.

Trump's not wrong.

A field goal would have forced the Lions to score a touchdown in the final 2:54 to win the game. Failing on fourth down, which the Giants did, meant the Lions could tie the game and send it to overtime with a field goal – which is exactly what they did. 

So, like the rest of the Earth, Trump questioned the decision. Which led to Kafka, who took over as the interim coach after Brian Daboll was fired, being asked on Wednesday about Trump's comments. 

Kafka Respects Different Opinions

"This is one of the coolest things that, I mean just for me, being in this position, you get the opportunity to make tough calls," Kafka said all excited about the second-guessing from the Oval Office. "For me, that's awesome. I love it. 

"You get it down the wire, two-minute, end of game, when you got to make a tough call, that's where, to me, I feel like that's a huge responsibility and something I enjoy doing. I like being that point person to do that. 

"So, everyone's going to have an opinion. That's OK. That's OK. I'm going to do the best I can for myself, for the team first, to give us an opportunity to win the game. And whatever that call, whoever it was, a player, a coach, my aunt and uncle, my dad, like I heard it from everybody. And that's OK. They can have their opinions, and I respect that."

DETROIT,MICHIGAN-NOVEMBER 23: New York Giants Interim head coach Mike Kafka follows the play during the second half of an NFL football game between the New York Giants and the Detroit Lions in Detroit, Michigan USA, on Sunday, November 23, 2025 (Photo by Jorge Lemus/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Kafka Wants Best For Team

Look, Mike Kafka should be respected for embracing criticism and second-guessing. It shows he's wired right, because I've seen a lot of NFL coaches get very defensive about people second-guessing their decisions.

I think Kafka knows the opinion of fans – even the President of the United States – aren't going to affect his ability to land a head coaching job or not.

That will be up to the Giants ownership and general manager Joe Schoen, who may have other suitors for the job. Whether those suitors deny interest or not.

Kafka is focused on one thing: Getting it right for a team whose season is already a disaster in that they are the first team to be eliminated this year from playoff contention.

Kafka Wants Positive Thinking

"…I'm going to do what's best for the team, try to do what's best for the team," Kafka said. "Whether it's winning the game on the last play of the game, being aggressive, going for two if we get an opportunity, whatever that situation is, that's where we got to thrive and that's where we got to turn the table in terms of our team is when it's nut-cutting time, when it's time down at the end of the game, when we got to make a play, we're going to be aggressive to go make the play to win it.

"And I want our guys thinking that way. I don't want our guys thinking like, hey, we shouldn’t do this or do that. Like, let's go win it." 

It sounds fantastic in theory. 

It needs to work in practice or Kafka is going to keep hearing from fans. And maybe from the President of the United States also.