John Mara is choosing a leap of faith over empirical evidence. The Giants co-owner and team president announced Monday morning that general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll will return for a fourth season, despite the duo hitting rock bottom in Year 3 as the team went 3-14 and set a franchise record for losses. Mara told reporters at the team facility that he wanted to make the “right” decision even if it wasn’t the “popular” one. “In Brian’s case, he was the Coach of the Year two years ago. That didn’t disappear all of a sudden. I still believe he can do that again,” Mara said. “In Joe’s case, I thought we had an outstanding draft class this year. I thought we had a really good free agency period, and I really like the staff that he’s put together and built. And I think that they’re the right two guys to lead us going forward.” It’s a puzzling outcome when you consider that five months ago, Mara stated publicly that he wanted to see “significant progress” and “to walk off the field at the end of the season feeling like we’re moving in the right direction.” Yet the Giants have fallen from nine wins in Year 1 to six years in Year 2 to three wins in Year 3 under Schoen and Daboll’s leadership. The team’s -142 point differential regressed by one point from last year and was the fourth-worst figure in the NFL. Mara said he met with Schoen and Daboll for “several hours” Friday afternoon before reconvening with co-owner Steve Tisch over the weekend. While he admitted he can’t currently justify that the program is being built the right way based on the records going backwards, Mara said it’s his “instinct” and “strong belief” based on observations of how the two work together and how the players respond. “I think the staff that (Schoen has) assembled around him and the process that we go through now, the information that we have in making personnel decisions, is better than I’ve ever seen it before,” Mara said. “In Brian Daboll’s case, listen, I’m at practice all the time, I go to the team meetings, I watch the players, I watch how they react. I still think he’s the right guy to lead us. If I’m sitting here a year from now (and) you’re asking me these questions, I’ll take the heat.” In the Giants’ only home win of the season against the Colts on Dec. 29, Drew Lock passed for 309 yards with four touchdowns and no turnovers. “I think if you get good quarterback play, you have an opportunity in every game,” Daboll said after that game. Clearly that has been part of the pitch to ownership from Schoen and Daboll, who will now have a top-three pick in the NFL Draft to presumably choose their own quarterback. The last three years were spent with resources to try to build around Daniel Jones, whom they inherited from the previous regime. “That’s obviously the number one issue for us going into this offseason, is to find our quarterback of the future,” Mara said. “Whether that be via the draft or acquiring a veteran, it’s going to be up to them to decide, ultimately.” It’s hard to imagine that Mara would have a playoff mandate for this regime with a rookie quarterback in 2025 since there were no repercussions for winning only three games after three years of free agency and drafts. But when asked Monday if this is now a two-year commitment, Mara wouldn’t give a timeframe. The top-two teams in the draft order, the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, also need a quarterback. Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward are widely viewed as the two best quarterback prospects in this draft, with Alabama’s Jalen Milroe being another possibility but unlikely to go in the first round. The Giants could also pursue a veteran in free agency like Sam Darnold or Russell Wilson to serve as either a mentor to a rookie or as a “bridge” until the franchise drafts a quarterback in 2026. Mara acknowledged that the team still has “a lot of holes to fill” including offensive line depth and on defense. But he also sounds tired of hitting the reset button after changing the head coach four times and the general manager twice in the last nine years. “When you make these changes and God knows, we’ve made them in the past — I’ve been impatient in the trash — when you do that, you feel like you take one step forward and two steps back, and I just didn’t want to fall into that cycle again,” Mara said. “I wanted to give people a chance to build this thing the right way and to get us to where we need to be.” Administrative changes might instead come to Daboll’s coaching staff. While his preference may be to keep offensive coordinator Mike Kafka intact, the 37-year-old former Eagles quarterback will likely pursue other opportunities after having play-calling stripped this season. The natural in-house replacement, if the Giants go that route, would be quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, meanwhile, proved to be a downgrade from Wink Martindale as the Giants had only 15 takeaways compared to 31 last season. Whatever happens this offseason, Mara insists he feels the fans’ pain and frustration from seven double-digit loss seasons in the past eight years. “It better not take too long because I’ve just about run out of patience,” Mara said when asked how long it will take to improve the product.