Houston Texans: Five questions fans desperately want answered

Question #4 – How hot is Bill O’Brien’s seat?

We all expect O’Brien to feel the wrath of Texans’ fans at some point during this season. He’ll make a decision that will backfire and everyone will want him fired like usual and chances are that day might not be coming anytime soon. After all, the reason the offseason was bad was because of a decision he made to trade Hopkins.

Yet, O’Brien’s intentions are to get the team beyond the point that they have been too. He’s putting everything on the line with the players the Texans acquired. People have expressed concerns over him wasting the careers of Watson and Watt. We’ve heard stories of things he said that were controversial and the trade of Hopkins has made him look bad in the media.

This season, O’Brien has in some way decided to ease up a bit. He’s delegated play-calling duties to Tim Kelly and he’s also said he would be kneeling with the team in the midst of the social justice issues. We’ll see if he lives up to his word, but I can only wonder if he’s doing it for show or if he means it.

O’Brien might be feeling like he has to be as likable as he can be even if he’s not the most popular. Players seem to respect him.  Watson has said that the relationship between the two is great. Yet, are we getting answers that are genuine or is this a soap opera in the making if there isn’t one.

It’s a good thing we don’t live in New York or Los Angeles because the media would eat this stuff alive every single day. Obviously, our media does a great job investigating, but in times of drama, the last thing our city needs is locker room tensions that are detrimental to the downfall of the team.

O’Brien finds himself in a lose-lose situation as always. If the Texans win, it’s the players who did the job very well while O’Brien is given secondary treatment. If the Texans lose, O’Brien is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons again. The coach didn’t get his team prepared well enough and he takes responsibility for the failure again. As fans, we’re getting tired of that.

If this keeps up and the Texans are on the decline, how long before Cal McNair realizes that O’Brien isn’t the guy? Finding the right coach in the NFL isn’t easy, but if McNair does in fact let O’Brien go, we wouldn’t blame him for hiring the next worst coach in the NFL since he got rid of the guy fans have mixed to bitter feelings about.