The Gary Kubiak era is over for the Houston Texans

Dec 1, 2013; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak looks down against the New England Patriots before the game at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Texans organization did what needed to be done in relieving Gary Kubiak of his head coaching duties with three games remaining in his eighth season at the helm of the Texans.

Kubiak finishes his time with the Texans with  a 61-64 overall record, earning two playoff wins and two AFC South championships the past two seasons.

This year, however, the Texans took a turn for the worse, as in the worst team in the NFL, with a current losing streak of 11 games and a 2-11 overall record.

Kubiak had three seasons with winning records, and like Don Banks of Sports Illustrated tweeted, he’s lucky he lasted that long with his early record, but Texans owner Bob McNair is a patient man.

Here is what Banks tweeted:

For all the expectations this team had in August, an 11-game losing streak is inexcusable and can’t be overlooked, no matter how much success he had the past two seasons.

The ultimate stat for me is in almost eight complete seasons, Kubiak lost more games than he won, and this team has higher expectations than that.

Houston has lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars not just once this season, but twice. How can any team in the AFC South allow that to occur in a season? Embarrassing, to say the least.

In the Thursday night game, the Texans, for the most part, looked and played like they’d rather be any other place but Jacksonville, and earning the seven-point loss to the now four-win Jaguars proved that.

I’m not going to write the Gary Kubiak era was a total failure because it wasn’t. Under his watch, the Texans won two playoff games in consecutive postseasons (both wins against the Cincinnati Bengals) and won the two division titles, which has never been done before in franchise history.

Kubiak built the base coat to this franchise, so to speak, but he took them as far as he could. He deserves some congrats for having three of his last four seasons with an overall winning record, but this season is just too much to overlook, because they have completely checked out.

I compare the Kubiak situation to that in the MLB when Dusty Baker was fired from the Cincinnati Reds after he failed to take the team as far as management felt they should have gone. Like Baker this past season, he lost his team, and they didn’t have any excitement in their play, though they had the talent. Baker, like Kubiak, won two division titles in his tenure.

Kubiak deserves some thanks for the success he brought the franchise, but his lack of change and being stuck in “his way” seemed to be the reason he’s no longer the head coach of the Texans.

Now, the question is: Who will lead the team next season?