Houston Texans: Jim Caldwell interviews as head coach search continues

The Houston Texans added Jim Caldwell to their interview list for head coach.

The Houston Texans season has two games remaining, but they are also preparing for next season and the future of their franchise as they work to hire a general manager and head coach. The latest person to be interviewed is Jim Caldwell, who is reported to be interviewing for the job of head coach.

This will be one of many interviews the Houston Texans hold in their search for their next head coach, but it is smart to take a look at Jim Caldwell because he’s a very experienced head coach as he has a record better than .500 and led the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl with an AFC Championship for the 2009 season.

Caldwell has coached two excellent quarterbacks in Peyton Manning — a future Hall of Fame selection — and Matthew Stafford, who in his own right had been a very successful quarterback.

Also with Caldwell, his teams have an overall record of 62-50 in the regular season, three seasons of 10-plus wins, and they made the playoffs on four occasions.

That said, the same could be said about the former Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, who had regular-season success, but his teams never got the job done in the second season when it mattered the most.

Houston Texans: Caldwell had 3 seasons of 10-plus wins with Colts and Lions

Caldwell’s worst season as a head coach was 2011, as the Colts were 2-14 overall, where that was the season where Manning missed with his neck injury, and it was the season before Andrew Luck arrived in Indianapolis. That is the season that got Caldwell fired, and then he earned a second head coaching Job in 2014 with the Detroit Lions.

With the Lions Caldwell was 11-5 in his first season, but then they were average with records of 7-9, 9-7 and 9-7, reaching the playoffs on two occasions.

Jim Caldwell seems like he’s a smart football coach, but is he the right coach to lead Deshaun Watson to the next step? Neither Manning nor Stafford plays like Watson does, and whomever takes over this position will have a lot of work ahead of them to help find the right players for the roster.

The defense is going to need a lot of work, and there are obvious issues with the offensive line and the running backs being successful as the rushing game is basically nonexistent.

If the Houston Texans are looking for a former head coach with a lot of experience, Jim Caldwell could be the guy, but there are many candidates who will still be interviewed who are busy at the moment coaching other teams that will be making long playoff runs.

Until then, expect a lot of coaches who aren’t in the final stages of a season to be interviewed, as the Houston Texans need to keep all options open as they try to find the right person to take over as the head coach in 2021 and for the foreseeable future.