Steve Silverman

Newsflash: Tom Coughlin will coach the Giants in 2007.

True meaning: Bill Cowher will be the coach in 2008.

Let’s review Coughlin’s 2006 season. After a 1-2 start, he had the Giants at 6-2 at the halfway point.

A primetime matchup with the 7-1 Bears loomed, with the winner earning the inside track for NFC’s No. 1 seed. The Giants built a 13-3 late in the first half and were pushing the Bears all over the field. Then came a third-and-22 play for Chicago from their own 28. Instead of letting shaky quarterback Rex Grossman throw for a first down, Chicago coach Lovie Smith decided to limit the damage by giving the ball to running back Thomas Jones.

But this was no give-up play. Jones ripped off a 26-yard run, giving the Bears an improbable first down. Three plays later, Grossman threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradley and the Bears were back in the game with 35 seconds left in the half.

The Giants never recovered. The Bears turned the game into a rout that left Coughlin frustrated and disgusted. Fans at Giants Stadium booed the team off the field.

New York won only two more games, but one of them was a 34-28 win at Washington in the regular-season finale. That was enough to get the Giants into the postseason despite an 8-8 record.

Surely Coughlin was on his way out. A wild-card loss to Philadelphia seemed to finalize it. Coughlin’s supposedly disciplined team picked up a boatload of penalties at inopportune times throughout the season and quarterback Eli Manning made little progress in his first three years.

So why did the Giants ownership decide to keep Coughlin after disappointing finish with all that talent? Coughlin has long been a disciplinarian who could care less if his players liked him or not. He demanded respect, but it was clear that the Giant players held him in contempt. The proof of that? Locker room criticisms from Plaxico Burress, Jeremy Shockey and Tiki Barber.

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The Giants hired Coughlin partly because of his ability to build a productive offense. However, the Giants finished the season ranked 23^rd in yards per pass and 14^th in total offense. Injuries were a part of the problems — most notably to receiver Amani Toomer and offensive tackle Luke Petitgout — but nearly every coach in the NFL can use that as an excuse.

The Giants have made the playoffs twice under Coughlin, but lost both wild-card games.

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All of that means Giants ownership wants Coughlin to keep the seat warm for Cowher. They made it look good by giving him a one-year extension, but do you think paying Coughlin for one extra season would be an impediment to owner John Mara if he could get Cowher to come to New York?

Of course not.

Cowher and Coughlin couldn’t be more different as leaders. Cowher lets his players know where they stand and what he expects from them. Those expectations don’t change and he communicates clearly.

Does he criticize them behind closed doors? Of course. But will he embarrass them in public the way Coughlin has? No.

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Despite being a tough guy on Sundays, Cowher is much more relaxed during the week. He has a sense of humor and his players played hard for him on an every week for 15 years. He decided not to come back for the 2007 season, but he is not about to call it a career at the age of 49.

Cowher will take a year off to stay at home in North Carolina with his wife Kaye. He’ll see how the other half lives and then he will come back to coaching and get his payday. Look for the Giants to go after Cowher hard. No coach brings more passion to his job and gets the consistent effort from his players that Cowher does.

He makes his share of mistakes and he is a tough taskmaster when it comes to his assistant coaches. But he puts a great product on the field and he’s got a personality that New Yorkers will love.

The only thing that could save Coughlin is an appearance in Super Bowl XLII. That’s not about to happen with a shaky Manning at the controls and Barber retired and off to his much-desired TV career.

The clock is ticking and it will be Cowher’s hour in about a year.

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