The Houston Texans Fire their Head Coach and General Manager Bill O’Brien

On Monday, October 5^th, 2020 the Houston Texans head coach and general manager, Bill O’Brien, was fired from both of those positions within the organization effective immediately. The Houston Texans made this move one day after their football team lost their fourth game which resulted in the Texans beginning the 2020 – 2021 NFL season with a record of 4 – 0. This terrible start to the current NFL season is well under the franchise’s expectations for this year, and it is most likely the reason that they fired O’Brien.

Head Coaching Replacement

The Houston Texans named Romeo Crennel as their interim head coach following the termination of O’Brien. Crennel was an assistant head coach with the Houston Texans, but he will now take over as the head coach of the Houston Texansfor the time being.

Romeo has previous head coaching experience with the Cleveland Browns from 2005 to 2008. He has also been the defensive coordinator of various NFL teams such as the Cleveland Browns, the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Houston Texans. The Houston Texans have not made a decision on who will take over as the team’s general manager as of now.

Run with the Houston Texans

The McNair family hired O’Brien as the head coach of the Houston Texans in 2014 after Bill had been the head coach of the NCAA’s Penn State Nittany Lions for two years. During his 7 seasons with the Houston Texans O’Brien compiled an overall record of 52 – 48. He led the Texans to 4 AFC South division titles throughout his time in Houston.

Bill was never able to take his team to their first ever AFC championship game. Although he was close last January when the Houston Texans led the Kansas City Chiefs 24 – 0 in the second quarter of the divisional round of the playoffs, but Patrick Mahomes ended up taking over the game and the Kansas City Chiefs ended up beating the Houston Texans 51 – 31.

Questionable Decisions by Bill O’Brien

 In 2014 O’Brien traded one of the NFL’s best pass rushers and an overall outstanding defensive player in Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks. Around that time, he also traded 2 first round draft picks and 1 second round draft selection to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for left tackle Laremy Tunsil as well as wide receiver Kenny Stills.

Those moves were questionable but O’Brien was heavily criticized over the last offseason for trading one of the league’s best wide receivers in DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson and a second round pick in the 2020 NFL draft. This decision was never explained well enough to make sense to anyone, and it was in my opinion one of the worst trades in NFL history.

After he sent Hopkins packing I believed that his job was on the line, and it may have been one of the major factors causing the Houston Texans to fire him earlier this week. O’Brien stated that he has learned a lot from his time as the Houston Texans head coach and general manager, and that he still wants to coach again in the National Football League.  Only time will tell if he gets another chance to do so.           

Media Statements

 “On behalf of my family and our entire organization, I want to sincerely thank Bill O’Brien and his family for their impact on our franchise,” says the Houston Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair. “Bill’s leadership moved our organization forward as he guided us to four AFC South Division championships, 52 wins and multiple playoff appearances during his tenure.”

O’Brien explained that he is, “Sorry that we couldn’t get this team over the hump.” 

“In the end, in this business, it’s a bottom-line business,” O’Brien stated. “We weren’t able to get it to where we needed to get it. … I understand we fell short in terms of taking this team further in the playoffs. But I do leave knowing that myself and this staff gave everything this organization deserved and more. We worked very, very hard to try to get this to a place where it could be a championship program. We just didn’t get it done.”

“We couldn’t get it over the hump last year, the year before, and obviously early on this year, but it wasn’t from lack of effort,” O’Brien proclaimed. “We did win four division championships here that we’re very proud of; won four division championships in six years. So we did a lot of good things here, but we didn’t do enough. We didn’t bring a Super Bowl to Houston, which I believe eventually someone will. I think this is a championship team that needs to get things turned around right now, but I believe in this team.”

“I [tried to do] every day what was best for the organization, what was asked of me,” O’Brien expressed. “I really did. Did we make mistakes? Obviously, we made mistakes. I don’t think anybody’s perfect. But we worked really hard to field a competitive team. We had a competitive team for years here. I think this is a competitive team, but obviously you have to win games to be really considered that way. But we hadn’t gotten it done. In the end, I did always what was asked of me, whether it was Bob [McNair], or Cal and Janice [McNair], and tried to do the best I could.”

“We obviously have to do something different,” says the Houston Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt. “We are 0-4. Whatever we’re doing is not working. Something needs to change. Something needs to be different.”

“That’s when [O’Brien] lost the team,” a source tells Dianna Russini that O’Brien lost the team two weeks ago.

O’Brien explained that, “There’s no doubt in my mind that I want to coach again.”

“All I can control is what I can control, and I’ve got to do a better job with the team,” O’Brien stated. “That’s obvious. And we’re going to work hard to do that.”

“At the end of the day, it is what it is,” says the Houston Texans starting quarterback Deshaun Watson. “We’re 0-4. We’ve just got to keep fighting, keep pushing forward, and that’s it. But for me personally, I’m not going to let it take my joy. I’m going to continue to live life, continue to work my ass off, continue to come in here every day and play football. It is what it is.

“But at the end of the day my joy, my spirit, my smile, my energy, the love of the game is still going to continue to be there. That’s how I see it.”

“Where we are is not good, obviously, but I do think we have good leadership on this team and we have guys that work hard and they believe in each other,” O’Brien expressed. “I think they feel like we’re close and we just need to get a win. But no, I’m not worried about the morale. I think we have good guys that understand what we have to do to try to dig ourselves out of it.”

O’Brien’s Coaching Statistics

 Coaching Results

Team’s Ranks

Full Coaching History

The Houston Texans NFL Franchise History