The latest ugly day for the Giants started with a spit-take-inducing quote from the second greatest quarterback in franchise history. Phil Simms was on TV, talking about the man who currently holds that job, and predicting that he would keep holding it right through the next presidential election.

“I think it’s an absolute guarantee that Eli Manning will be the starter for the Giants next year," Simms said Sunday morning on CBS. "In the (NFL) Draft, they’re not going to get anybody. And I think he’ll be there not only next year. But I think he has a chance to start in 2020.”

No. 10?

In 2020?!

The Giants had gone from wondering if Manning would start next week to hearing speculation from a franchise legend that he’ll keep on starting even after his massive contract with the team expires. And, given the lack of options on the roster and what had been a plummeting position in the draft order, the supporting evidence seemed compelling.

Then came the game on Sunday, and just like that, you had a tidy, three-hour counterargument. Then came another performance where the Giants needed their quarterback to overcome an injury to receiver Odell Beckham Jr., less than optimal pass protection and a Tennessee Titans defense hellbent on taking away rookie running back Saquon Barkley.

The Titans dared Manning to beat them, and the 17-0 score served as further proof that the Giants are merely kicking the can down the road if they really think they can enter next season with Manning as their starter. Eli 2020? That’s crazy talk.

Eli 2019? Maybe, given the alternatives, that’ll be the case. But if they don’t find a better option, it’s a safer bet that they’ll be sitting in this same spot next December, preparing to watch another NFL postseason from their living rooms.

“We were not executing, so it was tough to get third downs and it was tough to convert,” Manning said after completing 21 of 44 passes for 229 yards with two killer turnovers in the loss to Tennessee. “They did a good job and had some good schemes. We just didn’t execute well enough.”

This wasn’t all Manning’s fault. It never is. The receivers came up small with Beckham sidelined for a second straight week, dropping several passes. The logical game plan -- i.e., get the ball to Barkley 40 times -- was tossed in the trash bin the moment that the Tennessee defense wrapped him up behind the line of scrimmage for a couple of losses in the first half.

Pat Shurmur treats even the most innocuous questions about his team’s performance as attacks on his core being, so it was fascinating to see this exchange unfold at MetLife Stadium during the head coach’s latest unnecessary sparring match with the press:

Q. What did you think of Eli’s performance, obviously the --

A. He battled.

Q. -- the rain, how much of that was a factor?

A. I’m sorry. I’ll let you give the answer and the question. Go ahead.

Alrighty then. Shurmur is likely finding himself in a familiar spot. He can’t criticize Manning, the face of the franchise for 15 years, without facing backlash from the team’s fan base. But it’s also difficult to defend his performance, including two turnovers within a short stretch that ended the Giants season.

The first, late in the third quarter, was a poor throw into coverage on a third-down play with the Giants already in field-goal range. The second, on the next possession after a Titans punt, was a rookie mistake as several Tennessee pass rushers closed in around him. He should have taken a sack, but instead, he tried to toss to ball in the direction of a receiver and fumbled it away.

“I saw (receiver Sterling Shepard) there and tried to push it out to him late,” Manning said. “It slipped out of my hands. Right there, I have to back up, hold onto the ball and take a sack if I have to. I can’t turn it over and give them that good field position.”

That fumble led to a second Titans touchdown and the inevitable end to any faint hopes that this team would make the postseason. That means 2018 will be the seventh straight season without a playoff victory, the longest stretch for this team since the dark ages between its five NFL championship game losses and Bill Parcells’s arrival in East Rutherford (1959-1981, to be exact).

Manning is the only common denominator now. Yes, when everything goes right against an injury-riddled defense, he can have the kind of day he had in Washington last week, when he completed 14 of 22 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns. He had time to throw, a dominant Barkley and good protection.

The NFL is all about surviving against adversity. Manning faced it again on Sunday against a better Tennessee defense and failed. He’ll be 38 heading into next season with a $23 million cap hit. The Giants are currently eighth in the draft order, a position that makes their decision more complicated than a year ago when they should have found Manning’s successor with the No. 2 overall pick.

Kicking the can down the road again isn’t going to change anything. Phil Simms might be right about Manning in 2019 and (gulp) 2020, but the team’s decision makers couldn’t have watched this ugly game and saw anything but more of the same in the future.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.