Houston Texans: 5 factors into why team should part ways with Bill O’Brien
By Paul Conlon
Factor #3: Poor decision-making
If O’Brien was so taken aback by receiving a heckler’s criticism, he could have chosen not to engage, and likely had the fan removed effortlessly by briefly addressing the issue with security on his walking route before even reaching the locker room to counsel his team at halftime. Those were valuable seconds, as well as iotas of mental energy, that O’Brien could have better spent strategizing to climb back in a game that his team was down in, 31-3 at the half, to a beatable Broncos’ squad that finished the year with a losing record.
At the end of the day, a head coach of an NFL team is a human being, and so is every person in the stands. Sure, football is physical, but emotionally abusive behavior should not be tolerated.
If all it takes for O’Brien to lose his composure is a heckler’s criticism coming from a lower-level seat that likely costs more to sit in for three hours than even the most expensive video game systems out there at major retailers—then, Houston, we have a major problem.
Bill O'Brien recently displayed his true colors. light. Trending
As a native Houstonian, I have something to say. Houston helps people. It may not have the best Philly cheesesteaks, but it is a city of love. It may not look like a postcard from Hawaii, but it has incredible beauty through its people. No one needs some coach misrepresenting that, regardless of whoever’s coaching tree he or she is an offshoot of.
For all of his tough talk to a heckling spectator, five years in as an NFL head coach, O’Brien appears a one-trick talent, talented at riding the coattails of elite NFL quarterbacks in their prime, and Houston fans now see through the act. It might not even really matter which qualified candidate next coaches the Houston Texans in the future. After all, Deshaun Watson arguably solidified himself as a top-ten talent at his position, turning in the seventh-best total quarterback ranking in all of the NFL during the regular season.
After years of what many in the media describe as an agitated, gruff, abrasive and, at times, unpleasant personality, I have to wonder—is O’Brien really worthy of representing what the good people of Houston, Texas stand for?