Over the course of the existence of professional football, the following scenario has played out more times than one could imagine:
A contending team that feels as though it has bonafide championship ambitions is absolutely loaded on one side of the ball. Like, legitimately, one of the best units in the league. Typically, the side of the ball that this team dominates on is one in which their head coach specializes in, and accordingly, devotes more attention and resources toward. But when this happens, there often occurs a sort of counter-balance on the opposite side of the ball.
We see this other side of the ball struggle from one year to the next, despite attempts at finding reinforcements via the draft, free agency and/or trade. Through the years, vitriol from this team's fanbase gets directed at this inferior unit, and nine times out of ten, the fall guy ends up being the individual who is crafting the game plan and calling the plays.
As a result of public pressure and internal expectations continuosly coming up short, changes are made to the coaching staff on this side of the ball, and it's expected that the new guy in charge possesses the magic elixir to get this group on track. More often than not, he doesn't, and this team is right back at square one, wondering what to do next.
This is where I feel compelled to ask fans of the Houston Texans, does this sound familiar?
It would be awfully easy to look at the Houston Texans' 2025 season and point the finger of blame at first-year offensive coordinator Nick Caley for any and all of the team's shortcomings in a year in which it felt like the league was open enough that a team that's only middle of the pack on one side of the ball could emerge as the winner of Super Bowl LX.
Unfortunately, Houston's middle of the pack offense cratered during the most important moments of the season. While the Texans were able to overcome a near meltdown by quarterback CJ Stroud in the Wild Card Round, things totally fell apart in a 28-16 Divisional Round loss.
While these two showings will undoubtedly cause some to wonder whether Stroud can be relied upon to be the quarterback of the future in Houston, much more of the concern about the incompetency of the Texans offense has ended up being directed toward Nick Caley, leaving many to wonder whether the first-time offensive coordinator's first season with the Texans would be his last.
This week, just days after Houston's season came to an end, Texans general manager Nick Caserio addressed members of the media, answering questions on a variety of different topics that ranged from contract extensions to long-anticipated returns to Nick Caley's job security. And Caserio gave Caley a reasonably strong vote of confidence moving forward.
"I would anticipate Nick being here next year," Caserio said Wednesday, per DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com. "I think Nick learned a lot, [in his] first opportunity as a playcaller. I would say, offensively, probably the last two to three months of the year played pretty good football and did a lot of good things, so there was growth and improvement."
After having averaged just 21 points per game during their 3-5 start to the season, the Texans offense did manage to turn things around in the second half of the season, averaging 26.2 points per game during the final nine games of the regular season, a stretch that started with Davis Mills filling in for a concussed CJ Stroud.
Even compared to previous offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik -- who was fired after just two seasons -- the Texans offense did take steps forward during Nick Caley's first season as play-caller. The Texans averaged more points per game, more yards per game and gave up far fewer sacks under Caley than they did during Slowik's second (and final) season.
But barely clearing a bar set by a guy who lost his job after just two seasons won't be enough to keep Caley in Houston any longer than Slowik was. If the Texans want to capitalize on a championship window created by a young, hungry, reasonably cheap and absurdly talented defense, the offense needs to make more meaningful strides next year, and as CJ Stroud stated during his end of season remarks to the media, it's not just on Nick Caley to get things going the right direction.
“There’s a lot of things that can be fixed,” Stroud said Monday. “It’s not just on Cales, so I want to nip that in the bud right now. It’s on me as well. It’s on everybody. It’s not just me and him. It’s everybody. But it starts with me, and then it goes to him. It starts with everybody. So, it starts with us, too. I’m not going to put it on him. I’ll raise my hand and say me. So, those things will be fixed and we’ll be able to be better from that.”