Houston Texans: Final thoughts on Bill O’Brien and moving forward
By Neal Sharma
Cal McNair and the Houston Texans finally fired Bill O’Brien.
After months of rage writing, hours of crying at my desk in front of my computer, and praying for a sliver of hope, the Houston Texans finally fired Bill O’Brien as head coach and general manager of the team this week.
With the way I constantly heard about a great relationship between current Executive Vice President of Football Operations Jack Easterby, current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Cal McNair, and O’Brien, I thought I’d die before that trio ever got separated.
Apparently they were not as eye-to-eye as it seemed. Before we get digging into what the Houston Texans should do to continue the season, I think it’s important I ask one simple question: Why did it take this long to fire O’Brien?
Somebody is probably saying that it only took four games before he was fired, which is true, but it shouldn’t have taken this long. It should’ve happened before the DeAndre Hopkins trade. It should’ve happened at halftime of the playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when the 24-0 lead evaporated into the sky, and came back down as a 51-7 point swing.
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If you don’t want to call any of those reasons as legitimate, let’s talk for a second about some news about Bill O’Brien that came out after his firing. Allow me to show you exactly what I am referring to via various tweets from Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle as he reported on the firing of O’Brien this week:
Texans' players were not shocked by Bill O'Brien being fired after being informed during a meeting this afternoon, only by the timing of the termination, according to league sources not authorized to speak publicly.
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 5, 2020
Wilson also added this bit of information in a recent tweet this week:
Bill O'Brien had lost the confidence of organization, including several players and staff, and was increasingly prone to arguments with staff, including a recent and loud verbal exchange in front of players on the practice field, according to sources
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 5, 2020
Wilson then spoke about the “apparent temper” of O’Brien speaking about various arguments:
Former Texans coach Bill O'Brien's legendary temper flared up multiple times in recent years with a series of arguments throughout the building at NRG Stadium.
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 5, 2020
Here is one last tweet from Wilson about O’Brien and his tenure while with the Houston Texans:
When former Texans coach-GM Bill O'Brien fired people over the years, he did so with a lot of F bombs and orders to get the F out of the building immediately, per sources. That wasn't how he was dismissed today by Cal McNair, though
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) October 5, 2020
In the past I’ve always mentioned O’Brien’s stubbornness, but I always referred to it as something that was relative to on-the-field issues and maybe some management relationship problems.
I assumed his stubbornness mainly consisted of trying to force a successful New England offense onto an entirely different team years later, along with kicking out multiple GM’s because of relationship issues. Don’t forget about the relationship problems with higher star players and how that affected things.
Now I’m reading about his alleged constant yelling and arguing, and not in a healthy way, in order to vent frustration along with using profanities to fire somebody. How is this kind of attitude suppose to be good for team morale? O’Brien always emphasized having a locker room full of great guys who get along, but it’s clear (according to reports) O’Brien wasn’t following that moral code for himself.
O’Brien is in the NFL for a reason, and even though he always had temper attached to his name, it must’ve been controllable for him to get this far. According to the above tweets, it was really starting to become harder to control over these last two or three years.
With so many people questioning his every decision that had to lead to only more frustration because while the Texans still weren’t able to get over the hump. Emotion was getting to the best of O’Brien and he allegedly had horrible ways of responding to those emotions.
You would think the front office would see all of this unfold and act upon it as necessary, but apparently not. This goes way deeper than a blown lead, a horrible trade, and starting a season 0-4. O’Brien’s frustration was growing because he was struggling to get this team going, and the front office should’ve taken note of this and responded long ago.
I wish Bill O’Brien all the best of luck going forward, but if he wants another shot as a head coach, assuming all of these tweets are valid, he’s going to need some time off from football and take a long look at himself in front of the mirror.
O’Brien’s personality had grown far beyond stubbornness towards frustration and anger, because we still don’t have all of the details that went on while O’Brien was there, but the feeling is even the players knew that he needed to go.
Now it is time to look ahead, and let’s discuss how the Houston Texans should move forward from here on out.