Most coaches get fired. It's a reality. And the way this season began, you started to think that it could be a possibility down the road if things didn't turn around.
But after an 0-4 start, the Bill O'Brien era has come to a screeching halt.
The Texans know that there's so much more football to be played in 2020 and Cal McNair wanted to change things up immediately.
He publicly thanked O'Brien for what he has done for the organization. And that's a lot.
When the Texans went searching for a head coach late in 2013 he was the number one candidate on the market. O'Brien took over after a 2-14 campaign and instantly turned the Texans back into a winning team. They narrowly missed the playoffs in 2014 and bounced back from a 2-5 start in '15 with a 7-2 run to win the division.
It was a season that included winning in Indy, where the Texans were 0-13 all time. That campaign had some remarkable coaching performances including a 10-6 win at undefeated Cincinnati on Monday Night Football, with T.J. Yates coming off the bench to throw for the only TD of the game.
The following offseason the Texans went all-in at quarterback, getting Brock Osweiler in free agency. It was a move that wouldn't work as planned but O'Brien's Texans were able to win another AFC South title.
This was a season that saw J.J. Watt exit after week three yet the Texans were able to finish number one in the NFL on defense and ultimately reach the divisional round.
Six games with Deshaun Watson were magical in 2017 before the QB was lost for the year with a knee injury. 2018 saw the miraculous turnaround from 0-3 to 11-5. 2019 was a breakthrough year with wins at Kansas City and against New England, and another AFC South title and playoff victory.
O'Brien had five winning seasons out of six campaigns and four division titles out of his last five full seasons. There are only a handful of NFL teams that can claim that type of success over that span.
He's the only Texans coach with three consecutive winning seasons and he doubled the number of division titles the Texans had in their first 12 years.
The 0-4 start was uncharacteristic. We've seen so many bounce-back performances in O'Brien's time. The nine game winning streak after 0-3 in 2018 made NFL history. The left-for-dead 2015 rebound should never be forgotten. He circled the wagons as well as any current NFL coach.
And he was entertaining. The coach's radio show got phenomenal ratings as he often showed a fun side of himself that played well with the audience. The press conferences were engaging. He sometimes showed joy and sometimes frustration. He was anything but boring.
He regrets not winning a Super Bowl here and not getting the franchise closer to that goal. But he won more than any coach here and should always be remembered for consistently getting the Texans to the post season. Something that we should never take for granted.
