Tom Couglin met with the New York Giants' ownership team Monday, Jan. 4, and made the decision to resign.

Coughlin helped the Giants win two Super Bowls and, after ending his 12th season Sunday, it was widely expected that he would step down.

Coughlin said in a statement that it was "in the best interest of the organization" that he stepped down.

After Sunday's loss, the Giants completed their third straight losing season and a 6-10 record. Coughlin knew going into the season that earning a playoff spot would be the only thing that could save his job.

Coughlin is 69 years old and began his coaching career in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1984 as a wide receivers coach. In 1995, he became the first head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars expansion team, a position he kept until his firing in 2002.

Coughlin spent a year out of football before taking the head coach position with the Giants in 2004. While with the Giants, Coughlin enjoyed quick success, making the playoffs in his second through fifth years. In his fourth year with the team, the Giants won Super Bowl XLII.

After missing the playoffs in his sixth and seventh seasons, Coughlin again took the Giants to another Super Bowl victory in 2011.

Coughlin has been on the verge of firing several times, but survived and stayed with the team all 12 years.

Coughlin admitted that the last three seasons did not go the way he wanted for the Giants, but he is proud that while he was head coach the team earned two Lombardi Trophies.

While with the Giants, Coughlin had a record of 110-92 as head coach, mostly with Eli Manning as his quarterback. Manning joined the Giants as a rookie in 2004, the same year that Coughlin became head coach. Coughlin decided to start Manning beginning in the team's tenth game.

"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as head coach of the New York Football Giants. This is a not a sad occasion for me. I have spent 15 years with this organization as an assistant and head coach and was fortunate to be part of three Super Bowl winning teams. A Lombardi Trophy every five years is an achievement in which we all take great pride," Coughlin said in the statement.

On social media, many Giants players said good bye to the long-time coach.