{"id":79439,"date":"2020-01-12T19:22:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T00:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=79439"},"modified":"2020-01-12T19:32:55","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T00:32:55","slug":"should-the-houston-texans-fire-bill-obrien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/01\/12\/should-the-houston-texans-fire-bill-obrien\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the Houston Texans Fire Bill O\u2019Brien?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Texans<\/a> are officially out of the Super Bowl hunt following their latest playoff loss. After jumping out to a 24-0 first-quarter lead, Houston allowed 41 unanswered points and the Kansas City Chiefs ended up winning 51-31. While he wasn\u2019t responsible for every part of the collapse, head coach Bill O\u2019Brien<\/strong> had a terrible day calling the shots for Houston. Between bad play calls, questionable scheme decisions, and suboptimal in-game strategies, O\u2019Brien didn\u2019t give his team a chance to go blow-for-blow with the red-hot Kansas City offense.<\/p>\n

With six years in the books, Houston Texans\u2019 fans are starting to get tired of the same old thing with O\u2019Brien. John McClain<\/strong> of The Houston Chronicle <\/em>reported<\/a> that O\u2019Brien will not be fired following Sunday\u2019s loss, but has he earned this job security? Let\u2019s take a look at the pros and cons of bringing back Bill O\u2019Brien for another run.<\/p>\n

Should the Houston Texans Move On From Bill O\u2019Brien?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Why He Should Stay<\/h3>\n

Bill O\u2019Brien may not be the best coach in the league, but he\u2019s far from the worst. O\u2019Brien has won at least nine games in five of his six seasons in Houston, which is no easy task for any coach. The lone season where he failed to reach that threshold came in 2017 when Deshaun Watson<\/a><\/strong> tore his ACL after seven games. Say what you will about O\u2019Brien, but nobody in the league can consistently win games with Tom Savage<\/a><\/strong> and T.J. Yates<\/a><\/strong> under center.<\/p>\n

Watson obviously covers up a lot of O\u2019Brien\u2019s flaws, but the former New England offensive coordinator has had success without Watson. Prior to 2017, O\u2019Brien managed to go 28-21 with the likes of Brian Hoyer<\/a>, Ryan Mallett<\/a><\/strong>, Ryan Fitzpatrick<\/a><\/strong>, and Brock Osweiler<\/a><\/strong> under center. He made it to the playoffs twice in his first three seasons and even managed to win a playoff game with Brock Osweiler.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien isn\u2019t perfect, but he\u2019s able to keep the team competitive on an annual basis. However, sometimes that isn\u2019t enough. The Dallas Cowboys talked themselves into a decade of Jason Garrett<\/a><\/strong> based on this pseudo-competitive nature. The question now becomes: is Bill O\u2019Brien good enough to lead this team to a championship?<\/p>\n

Why He Should Go<\/h3>\n

Deshaun Watson is one of the better young quarterbacks in the league and is capable of covering up some coaching issues. O\u2019Brien isn\u2019t great at scheming open throws, which forces Watson to essentially play hero ball for 60 minutes every game. This style of play forces Watson to operate at an extremely high level in order for the offense to function. When he has a bad game, the Texans stand no chance at victory.<\/p>\n

Bill O\u2019Brien isn\u2019t solely responsible for Watson\u2019s wild style of play or his tendency to hold onto the ball. However, O\u2019Brien\u2019s unfavorable play calls force Watson to try to do too much. In many ways, this is similar to what Andrew Luck<\/a><\/strong> went through with Chuck Pagano<\/strong>. Once Frank Reich<\/a><\/strong> and his quarterback-friendly system came to town, Luck had arguably the best season of his career in 2018. Theoretically, Watson could see a similar boost in production with a friendlier scheme.<\/p>\n

As things currently stand, Bill O\u2019Brien has full and complete control over the roster. Based on his one year of control, O\u2019Brien does not deserve this power. In 2019 alone, O\u2019Brien traded Jadeveon Clowney<\/a><\/strong> for pennies on the dollar, sent away a third-round pick for Duke Johnson<\/a><\/strong>, and traded just about everything for Laremy Tunsil<\/a><\/strong>. Tunsil made the team better in the short-term, but the long-term ramifications from this trade are going to cause more harm than good.<\/p>\n

The Verdict on Bill O\u2019Brien<\/h3>\n

Bill O\u2019Brien is the Andy Dalton<\/a><\/strong> of NFL head coaches. He\u2019s not good enough to elevate a bad team to a championship, but he\u2019s good enough to get the job done if everything else is in place. You certainly hope for better than O\u2019Brien, but you can do a whole lot worse.<\/p>\n

The first order of business for Houston should be finding an actual general manager. O\u2019Brien proved that he shouldn\u2019t carry that responsibility into 2020, and someone like Nick Caserio<\/strong> could be a solid hire. It won\u2019t be easy for Houston to build a team with so few draft picks, so they\u2019ll need a legitimate talent evaluator to lead the way for the next few seasons.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Houston went too far in the playoffs to get a new coach for 2020. All of the head coaching vacancies are already filled, and the best candidates are officially off the market. The best head coaching candidate available is probably Josh McDaniels<\/strong>, and that feels like a lateral move.<\/p>\n

The best course of action for the Texans is to enter 2020 with Bill O\u2019Brien as the head coach. If the season goes off the rails, or if O\u2019Brien shows no noticeable signs of growth, then it\u2019s time to look for a replacement.<\/p>\n

Main photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>