All Hail Supreme Leader of the Texans, Bill O’Brien
To be honest, I’m not sure what I expected. Why would a franchise that has been mired in mediocrity for its entire existence make the obvious move to help them reach a super bowl? They didn’t even have to fire Bill O’Brien to make me happy, all they had to do was not give one person supreme power over the Texans’ football operations. However, after the news that the team will keep Bill O’Brien as general manager and head coach, team CEO Cal McNair just hammered the final nail in the coffin for more years of dead end mediocrity.
Lets take a trip down memory lane to see how we got to this unsettling point in my beloved franchise’s history.
After the 2017 NFL draft, it seemed like the stage was set. The Texans had a great defense, a young franchise quarterback who drew comparisons to Michael Jordan, a great receiver in DeAndre Hopkins, and an okay offensive line. However, the Texans had a crazy season in 2017 where Deshaun Watson, JJ Watt, Derek Newton, Whitney Mercilus, Will Fuller (surprise), and many other important players either missed multiple games or went on injured reserve. Then owner Bob McNair became outed as a racist, and Duane Brown forced himself out of Houston. The team finished that year 4–12, and all of a sudden, the Texans seemed to be in disarray. However, Bill O’Brien somehow landed a four year contract extension after that dismal year.
I want to take a closer look at this 2017 season, because I think it sets the story for where the Texans find themselves today with Bill O’Brien seemingly controlling all aspects of the Texans on the field.
After many years of disagreements and tension between O’Brien and then GM Rick Smith, Smith announced he would step down as general manager after the 2017 season. Almost immediately, the Texans hired O’Brien’s longtime buddy, Brian Gaine, to step in as general manager. Things seemed to be going well, and the Texans looked like they may finally be in sync.
After an AFC South Title and a 11–5 season in 2018, the Texans hosted a playoff game against their rival Colts. What happened in that game, you may ask? Well, the Texans got embarrassed at home losing to the Colts 21–7 at home, showing zero heart, effort, or preparedness for 60 minutes.
People began murmuring that Bill O’Brien should be fired after multiple poor performances in the playoffs, including a 30–0 shellacking against the Chiefs in the 2015 wildcard round. The Texans had one lone playoff win in four tries under O’Brien, the only one coming against Connor Cook and the Raiders during the 2016 Wild Card round. The Texans would then lose to the Patriots by 18 in the Divisional Round of those playoffs.
After the 2018 draft, Texans fans were excited to see what would happen the upcoming season, yet still skeptical that Bill O’Brien was really the man for the job. I believe its obvious that some people in the Texan’s front office were starting to think the same thing, and soon there was tension in paradise.
On a quiet day in June 2019, the Texans decided to fire Brian Gaine without giving a real reason. Local sports writer Brian T. Smith outlined that there seemed to be tension between O’Brien and Gaine for months leading up to the decision, and that soon led to him being fired. This pattern of O’Brien slowly taking control of the Texans seems inherently obvious, to the point where Texans insiders are beginning to assume this firing was more about keeping power than what was best for the direction of the team.
That brings us to August 31st, 2019, when O’Brien made four different trades to bring the Texans “all in” on the super bowl. One of these trades included trading star edge rusher, Jadeveon Clowney, to the Seahawks for two situational pass rushers and a third round pick. The other trades netted Laremy Tunsil, a good, although undisciplined left tackle who led the league in penalties at the position and is due for a massive contract extension that will probably make him the highest paid tackle in the NFL; Kenny Stills, who was solid but not great last season, and Carlos Hyde, who did a good job of being the team’s power running back, although even he was inconsistent last season. What was the price for these moves? Our first round picks the next two years, a 2021 second rounder, a 2020 third rounder, and a sixth rounder in 2020. Now, the Texans are left with one top 100 pick in this years draft, no picks in the first two rounds of next year’s draft, and a huge hole at defensive end opposite of an aging JJ Watt.
O’Brien mortgaged his team’s future for some much needed upgrades, but ultimately nothing really changed from this year to last year. The Texans still couldn’t make the AFC Championship, even though they had a 24–0 lead after the first 20 minutes of the AFC divisional playoff game. You have to think, maybe O’Brien reached his ceiling as a coach. In 4 playoff appearances as head coach, O’Brien hasn’t been able to beat Bill Belichick, Frank Reich, or Andy Reid in the playoffs, and has still yet to beat John Harbaugh once in the regular season. Those are some of the best coaches in the AFC, and they continue to outcoach O’Brien in the regular season and the playoffs.
Herein lies the real irony.
No matter how well Bill O’Brien the GM does, Bill O’Brien the coach won’t be able to take his team to the next level.
Clearly, Bill O’Brien’s last year of building the Houston Patriots left the Texans in a weird spot. They have superstar talent at important positions which is good enough to consistently carry Houston to 9–11 win seasons, but they have very little depth, no draft picks, and two massive contracts they need to pay that will severely deteriorate their cap space over the next few years.
I would love to see how Bill O’Brien will redeem himself when negotiating with Deshaun Watson and Laremy Tunsil after botching the Jadeveon Clowney negotiations and ultimately trading him away for nothing, but I have a feeling I already know what will happen.
Although the Texans are in a tricky spot, it is certainly a situation that an experienced GM could navigate. However, Cal McNair decided to keep Bill O’Brien as GM while making him responsible for being the head coach and the play caller. I think its safe to assume that this situation is only going to get worse, both regarding the team’s personnel and their on-field product.
My outlook for the Texans is this: they are bound for regression. Usually teams that are in “win now mode” with very little depth or draft picks don’t end up winning Super Bowls, especially if those teams are led by Bill O’Brien, who has consistently shown that he panics in big moments, mismanages the clock, and runs an extremely predictable offense. If I was Cal McNair, I wouldn’t put my faith in a coach who in a playoff game that blew a 24 point lead in the second quarter, and then proceeded to get outscored 23–7 in the second half of this year’s divisional round playoff game. Or a coach who lost 21–7 at home against a division rival in the first round of the playoffs. Or a coach who lost 30–0 in the first round of the playoffs. Or a coach who cursed out a fan that heckled O’Brien after the Texans were down 31–3 at halftime at home to the 4–8 Denver Broncos. You get the point.
However, all of my qualms about the future of the Texans don’t matter anymore. Bill O’Brien is now the sole leader of the Texans, and that’s what he has wanted since 2017. No matter how the Texans finish next year, Bill O’Brien won’t go anywhere, and Cal McNair will continue to allow O’Brien to run a dysfunctional organization.
