A look back at Bill O’Brien’s time with the Houston Texans.

On the 5^th of October 2020, the 0-4 Houston Texans fired their head coach, general manager, offensive play-caller, and probably team chef Bill O’Brien. My immediate reaction to this was to scream out “yessssirrrrrrrrrrr!!! It’s about damn time.” The fact that he had a job for as long as he did prove not only how weak the AFC South was, but also his ability to shift blame and avoid accountability. Let’s dive into his reign of ineptitude and mediocrity, shall we?

 

O’Brien was with the team since 2014 and posted an overall record of 52-48 in the regular season which included four AFC South Divisional Titles and a 2-4 playoff record.  During the early parts of his career, the only experience he had with the NFL was being on the New England Patriots staff from 2007-2011. He held many titles there during his four-year period. His highlight during that time was getting into a screaming match with the goat Tom Brady after he threw an interception against the Washington Redsk…... I mean Football Team on December 11^th, 2011.

 

From 2012 he then spent two seasons trying to revive the dead corpse of what was once called the Penn State football program. He was hired after the child sex abuse scandals involving their former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Because of this scandal, the Penn State program was faced with punishments like a five-year probation, a four-year postseason ban, losing forty scholarships from 2013 to 2017, and many others. 

 

So, Bill was taking over a team made up of scraps for lack of a better term. But the team was able to be much better than expected posting an 8-4 and 7-5 record in 2012 and 2013 respectively. He was then hired by the Texans on January 2^nd, 2014 after they fired Gary Kubiak and had the worst record in the league with 2-14. Subsequently, with the 1^st overall pick in the 2014 draft, the Texans selected defensive end, Jadeveon Clowney.

 

Texans’ Tenure Summary.

 

He went 9-7 with the team in his first three seasons, winning two AFC South titles in 2015 & 2016. In the 2015 postseason, they got blown out the water by the Kansas City Chiefs 30-0. In 2016 they did manage to beat the Derek Carr-less Oakland Raiders (back when he was an MVP candidate) to advance to the Divisional Round for the first time since 2012. They then fell to O’Brien’s former team, the Patriots 34-16.

 

What’s interesting is that in those three seasons, O’Brien had a revolving door of QBs. From 2014-2016 the Houston Texans had a total of 8 starting quarterbacks: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett (2014 & 2015), Case Keenum, Brian Hoyer, T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden, Brock Osweiler, and Tom Savage. And apart from Ftizmagic, all those guys were trash.

 

Oh yeah Brock Osweiler, remember him? Remember when they signed him to a 4-year $72 million deal in 2016? Good times.

 

Now in the 2017 Draft, the Texans traded their 25^th pick and their 2018 1^st round pick to the Browns to move up to 12^th and grab Deshaun Watson. Now finally for the first time, O’Brien had a decent young quarterback to build around.

 

Watson missed nine games in the 2017 season and that combined with their defense finally falling apart caused the Texans to slip to a 4-12 record. He did bounce back in both the 2018 & 2019 season winning the division twice with a record of 11-5 and 10-6 respectively. In the playoffs both years, they managed a 1-2 record, advancing to the Divisional round in 2019.

 

So, if just looked at his record and his accomplishments you’ll be thinking, “gee-whiz this guy isn’t half bad,” but my friend you would be dead wrong. You see we need to look a little deeper into what else transpired during his tenure for us to get the full picture.

 

Helping Circumstances.

 

Firstly, the AFC South was a trash division during his time. Besides the Colts in the early 2000s, this division has been a breeding ground for disappointment and mediocrity. From 2014-2019, only the Texans have a winning percentage over 50% at 54.1%, Colts = 50%, Titans = 42.7% and Jags = 33.3%. 

 

Secondly, in his first three seasons, they only reason that they were able to stay above 500 was that their defense lead by J.J. Watt. Watt won two DPOYs during O’Brien’s tenure and helped anchor their defense to top 10 finishes in most statistical categories in both 2014 & 2015. Without Watt and the other defensive studs that the Texans had, it’s safe to say that O’Brien’s record wouldn’t be what it was.

 

Finally, let's discuss some of the moves he made during his time there, as this will highlight his biggest flaw which isn’t his mediocre coaching, but it’s his ego.

 

PS – I’m not counting the Duane Brown trade because that was more between Brown and the Texan’s owner.

 

Firing up the Trade Machine.

 

After the Texans fired Brian Gaine after only one season with them on June 7^th, 2019, they soon appointed executive VP Chris Olsen as the interim GM. This was the beginning of the year-long quest for power that O’Brien set out on. Let me highlight some of his “best moves.”

 

September 1^st – He ships Jadeveon Clowney to Seattle for Jacob Martin, Barkevious Mingo, and a 2020 3^rd round pick. Clowney was reluctant to play for the Texans because the team didn’t want to pay him as it would’ve taken them over the cap limit.

 

September 1^st – He acquires Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, a 2020 4^th rounder and a 2021 6^th rounder from the Dolphins in exchange for a 2020 & 2021 1^st round pick, a 2021 2^nd round pick, Johnson Bademosi and Julien Davenport. Now to me, isn’t even that bad. Giving up two 1^st rounders wasn’t ideal but Tunsil is a great lineman, so I find this was a decent enough trade.

January 28^th – A few weeks after blowing a 21-point lead to the Chiefs, Bill O’Brien was appointed the general manager of the Texans. For what reason, I still do not know.

 

March 16^th – He sends four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and a 2020 4th round pick to the Cardinals and got back a 2020 2^nd round pick, a 2021 4^th rounder, and David Johnson. Just WTF man. It is alleged that O’Brien compared him to Aaron Hernandez and that he didn’t like, “all his baby mommas around.”  Yes, that Aaron Hernandez, the murderer.

 

In the span of fewer than 2 years, the Texans traded away three All-Pros and didn’t even receive a single 1^st round pick in return. If this isn’t the height of incompetence and ineptitude, then I don’t know what is.

 

After presenting this evidence I am here to tell you that Texans ownership didn’t screw Bill O’Brien, Bill O’Brien screwed Bill O’Brien. Due to his own egotistical and megalomaniac behavior, he failed to separate business reasons from personal ones and with that effectively doomed not only himself but the Texans organization. He leaves the Texans with the highest payroll this season at $248 million (I couldn’t find a website to confirm this but since these reporters know more than me let’s just take their word for it), no 1^st or 2^nd round picks in the 2021 draft and with 17 players to resign next season.

 

There’s a quote from Frank Herbert and it says, “Power tends to isolate those that have too much of it. Eventually, they lose touch with reality and fall.” After years of blame-shifting and finger-pointing, Bill O’Brien’s quest for more power finally paid off. He was “the man.” However, when s**t this the fan and he looked around for people to blame, he found himself alone at Mount Rushmore, unable to hide from the consequences of his actions.

 

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