Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press
Corey Wootton (98) and Lance Briggs sacking Manning. With the loss, the Giants fell to 0-6.
CHICAGO — In the Giants' season-opening game, Eli Manning threw an interception on the first play from scrimmage. Demonstrating improvement in the sixth game of the season, Manning did not throw an interception until the third play of the game Thursday night.
Manning also threw an interception on the 12th play of the game, against the Chicago Bears, that was run back for a touchdown. And there was a third interception in the game's final minutes, with the Giants in Chicago territory and driving for what would have been a go-ahead touchdown.
Certain themes to the Giants' season have remained constant, starting with this one: the Giants have yet to win a game. With their 27-21 loss Thursday, the Giants dropped to 0-6 for the first time since 1976.
It would be inaccurate to say that everything went downhill for the Giants after the two early interceptions. They rallied twice to tie the game in the first half and looked as if they might take the lead in the waning minutes.
But the dominant characteristic of the season has been Manning's recurring interceptions.
The crushing interception late in the game, with Chicago leading, 27-21, came on a second-and-9 at the Bears' 35-yard line. Manning threw high to tight end Brandon Myers, who was open in the middle of the field. The ball grazed Myers's hands, and Tim Jennings, who was stationed several yards behind Myers, picked off the overthrown pass with 1 minute 54 seconds remaining. It was the Giants' last gasp.
In 1976, the Giants ended up losing their first nine games and finished 3-11. The team's coach, Bill Arnsparger, was fired after the seventh loss.
Despite Thursday's loss, the Giants did avoid becoming the first team in N.F.L. history to give up 30 or more points in each of its first six games.
Manning appeared shaken by the loss and spoke with a voice that occasionally cracked with emotion.
"I felt bad for my teammates and coaches," Manning said. "They're trying so hard to win a game, and I'm trying, too, but it's tough when you feel like you're not playing your best.
"Guys are doing their part, and I'm not doing mine."
Of the final interception, Manning said: "I felt like that pass came out like I wanted it to, but it was just a little too high. I made a mistake. You throw a ball six inches too high, and that's the difference between possibly winning and losing again."
Coach Tom Coughlin said: "I had every confidence that we were going to get it into the end zone and we'd win. I've seen Eli do it over and over. It's frustrating and disappointing. We did a lot of good things, but we didn't do enough."
Trailing by 13 points, the Giants started its first possession of the third quarter with a dropped pass, a false-start penalty and a third-down sack of Manning.
On their next possession, Manning led the Giants on a 91-yard, 9-play drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Brandon Jacobs, trimming the Bears' lead to 27-21.
But the following Giants possession included a controversial third-down play.
Flushed from the pocket, Manning threw toward Hakeem Nicks, who was grabbed and flung out of bounds by Jennings as the pass was sailing over his head. The officials threw a flag and indicated pass interference. Then, after a brief consultation, they said there was no foul because the ball was uncatchable.
By flagrantly throwing Nicks out of bounds, though, Jennings could still have been whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct or holding.
The Giants opened the game in a way that seemed almost unfathomable — with successive Manning interceptions. Both times, it appeared that wide receiver Rueben Randle was not on the same page as Manning.
The first interception did not lead to any Bears points as the Giants' defense made a valiant stand inside the 5-yard line. But the second was returned 48 yards by Jennings for a touchdown and a 7-0 Chicago lead and was another example of the kind of miscommunication with his receivers that has bedeviled Manning throughout the season.
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