At the end of the 2022 NFL season, a few things had become abundantly clear regarding the Houston Texans:
First, the team was in desperate need of an infusion of talent, starting with a quarterback who could at least conceivably be considered a franchise-caliber player at the game's most important position.
Second, the AFC South had been in a state of flux, really ever since Peyton Manning departed for the Denver Broncos way back in 2012, and therefore, it was a division that was there for the taking.
Third, if the Texans wanted to become that team -- the standard bearer in the AFC South, so to speak -- they would need a complete culture reset, and that would start with whoever the Texans hired to become their next head coach.
Enter DeMeco Ryans, a former Texans linebacker who rose through the coaching ranks gradually since joining Kyle Shanahan's staff in San Francisco in 2017. Ryans got the job on January 31st, and since then, he's done nothing but spearhead Houston's revival, resetting a somewhat toxic culture into one exemplified by hard work, discipline, consistency and excellence.
Now sure, the Jacksonville Jaguars have the leg up in the AFC South race this season, but the Texans are the two-time defending division champions and certainly the most stable of the four teams in the AFC South. With a win over the Las Vegas Raiders this past Sunday, the Texans reached the 10-win mark for the third straight year. It's the first three-year run in franchise history with double-digit wins, but more impressively, the victory -- or rather, the 30 victories -- have propelled DeMeco Ryans into an exclusive club that includes not even a dozen coaches since the NFL/AFL merger.
With three straight 10-win seasons to start his coaching career, Ryans becomes the 10th head coach since 1970 to accomplish this feat, joining the following nine head coaches:
Matt LaFleur, Green Bay, 2019-2021
Bruce Arians, Arizona, 2013-2015
Chuck Pagano, Indianapolis, 2012-2014
Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco, 2011-2013
Barry Switzer, Dallas, 1994-1996
George Seifert, San Francisco, 1989-1991
Red Miller, Denver Broncos, 1977-1979
Ted Marchibroda, Baltimore, 1975-1977
Chuck Knox, Los Angeles Rams, 1973-1975
It's worth noting that four of those coaches -- Harbaugh, Switzer, Seifert and Miller -- would also make the Super Bowl in their first three seasons as an NFL head coach, with Switzer and Seifert each getting their hands on the Lombardi Trophy at season's end.
While Ryans has been criticized occasionally for certain game management decisions, one thing that can't be questioned is that his players play hard for him. Perhaps it's due to his age, or maybe because he was once a player, but Ryans has a way of connecting with his players and keeping them on that path of consistency, even in the midst of a rough 0-3 start to the 2025 season.