Did Houston Texans make a mistake by not hiring Kevin O’Connell?

Why didn’t the Houston Texans hire Kevin O’Connell if they wanted an offensive guru for their next head coach?

Despite having two interviews with the Houston Texans, Kevin O’Connell will lead the “Purple People Eaters,” aka the Minnesota Vikings, instead. While the Texans have their finalists in Brian Flores, Jonathon Gannon, and Josh McCown, none of them are really known for their offensive prowess.

O’Connell is one of the main reasons the L.A. Rams are in Super Bowl LVI, with all due respect to Rams Head Coach Sean McVay. However, the Texans’ offense ranked 30th in the league in terms of total offense last year.

With Davis Mills looking like he is the future starting quarterback in Houston, why did Nick Caserio not choose O’Connell?

Houston Texans have committed to building through the defense, at least on the surface.

When looking at how Caserio is navigating this head coaching search, two of the finalists have a defensive background. As for McCown, who knows what he knows about defense. We saw how Flores got the most out of his players to make an incredibly tough defense.

Gannon struggled in his first season as the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator, but there is room for improvement. Getting back to O’Connell, maybe his pass-first approach was the thing that didn’t sit well with Caserio. If the run-first mentality that flopped like a Magikarp is still in play from 2021, Houston is set for trouble.

Missing out on what O’Connell could have done for this offense that was shut out twice last season stings. Flores and Gannon are still quality candidates, but for those wishing to see a night and day difference with the offense, it may not happen.

That’s not to say either of the finalists won’t change the offense for the better; it will be more of a linear improvement than an exponential one.