The winless New York Giants have a long way to go to salvage their season for a chance to play at home in Super Bowl XLVIII.
"We're all hopeful" that Monday night's game against the Minnesota Vikings will snap the Giants' 0-6 start, team co-owner Jonathan Tisch told CNBC the morning of the game. "The team is very focused. The players are upbeat," added Tisch, who's also co-chairman of Loews.
The Super Bowl will be held outdoors on Feb. 2 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., home to the Giants and the New York Jets, who crept up in their conference with a controversial overtime win against the New England Patriots on Sunday.
(Read more: Will Super Bowl XLVIII be known as the 'Storm' Bowl?)
Appearing with Tisch on CNBC's "Squawk Box," former Giants center Shaun O'Hara said it's easy to just blame quarterback Eli Manning, who just happens to be a two-time Super Bowl MVP.
"I look at the defense too, because the Jets have a rookie quarterback," three-time Pro Bowler O'Hara said. Geno Smith is throwing interceptions, but "they are still finding ways to win football games, because their defense is keeping them in the game." He added: "It's a collective effort. It's never all on one guy."
"Tom Coughlin, he's one of the best coaches to have ever coached the game," contended O'Hara, who won Super Bowl XLII with the Giants. "I think tonight they turn the season around, and they get that first 'W' against" the Vikings and their starting quarterback "Josh Freeman, who just came to that team a little over a week ago."
As for the upcoming Super Bowl, NY/NJ Host Committee co-Chair Tisch said the preparations, costs and economic benefits will be shared by both states. "The game is played in New Jersey. The practices will be in New Jersey. But [many of] the hotels and restaurants" are in New York City.
O'Hara, also an NFL Network analyst, said: "There's a Super Bowl game, but then there's a Super Bowl week. And I think that's really the biggest part of the Super Bowl" excitement.
For fans in the New Jersey-New York area, the Host Committee put together the "Join the Huddle" tour. It's an interactive attraction on wheels, bringing game-day fun to dozens of areas throughout the region in the months leading up to the Super Bowl.
"The day of the game only 82,500 people are going to be able to sit there in MetLife Stadium and watch," Tisch said. On the Huddle Shuttle, fans "have a chance to look at the Super Bowl trophy, look at Eli's locker room, do some drills." It's been very "well received."
—By CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere. Follow him on Twitter @Matt_SquawkCNBC.
