Why the Texans would be foolish to fire Bill O’Brien

Winter is coming for many NFL coaches. With just two weeks left in the season, the annual head-coaching carnage is about to commence. About a third of the league’s coaches are probably worried that they are in their final days with their teams.

Bill O’Brien is one coach who does not deserve to be on this list. However, whether it’s earned or not, it appears he is. O’Brien’s job security is very much a topic in Houston and around the league as we hit the holidays. The Houston Chronicle has labeled the chatter as “unconfirmed speculation,” but people are talking.

O’Brien has heard it. After a blowout loss to the Texans' AFC South rival Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, he made it clear to the Houston media he wants to remain the team’s head coach, and he made it clear he will never tap out. If O’Brien is not going to be the Texans’ head coach much longer, he will have to be removed from the job involuntarily.

He certainly has his supporters, and O’Brien’s most vocal proponent is the most important person in the organization: injured rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson. Last week, Watson took to social media to say he wanted O’Brien back when word started to filter around the NFL that the coach could be in trouble. This week, Watson went all in on his love for O’Brien, telling the Houston Chronicle that he wanted to play for O’Brien his “whole career," adding that if something isn't broken, why try to fix it?

I totally agree with Watson — other than the part that nothing is broken. Actually, the Texans’ players are broken. Houston has been ravaged by major injuries. Star pass-rusher J.J. Watt — the best defensive player in the NFL when healthy — was lost again for the season in October. Fellow defensive standout Whitney Mercilus was also a victim of the injured reserve. However, the biggest blow to the Texans’ season — yes, even bigger than Watt’s — was the injury suffered to Watson. He was on his way to becoming the runaway NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. Heck, he was probably even a NFL MVP candidate when he suffered a torn ACL in late in October, toying with the NFL like he did college defenders during his days at Clemson.

Then, he went down, and the Texans’ season went up in smoke.

It’s been a trying year for the Texans. The entire city dealt with Hurricane Harvey shortly before the regular season started. The Texans had to adjust their preparation, and of course, all of their thoughts were on the devastation. Add that stress to the injuries and the holdout and eventual trade of left tackle Duane Brown, and it’s been a miserable season for the Texans. Their play reflects all the challenges, sitting at 4-10 with two games left to play.

This season, however, is not on O’Brien. Give every team these types of issues and the results would almost certainly be similar across the board. O’Brien, you see, is no losing coach. He is an excellent coach, in fact. The Texans have gone 9-7 all three of his previous seasons in Houston and won the AFC South the past two years.

O’Brien is an offensive-minded coach. His early tenure in Houston was held back by a lack of quarterback talent. We saw what could happen when he was gifted a talented quarterback in the form of Watson. These two could wreck the league — the two were wrecking the league.

Watson’s injury stole a potential long 2017 playoff run in Houston. Making O’Brien pay for a terrible season that was out of character — this will be his only losing season — would be terribly shortsighted by Houston owner Bob McNair. It would also put undue pressure on Watson, the prize of the franchise. Watson needs to concentrate on his rehabilitation in the offseason, not learning a new system. He and O’Brien already have a good thing going. That needs to be developed and taken advantage of, not eliminated.

All Houston needs is a little luck, not a new coach. If the franchise doesn’t believe it, it'll see what would happen if McNair and company do make a coaching change.

O’Brien would have a new NFL job by lunch, while Watson probably wouldn’t have much of an appetite to start anew in Houston.