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As the Cincinnati Bengals look forward to playing in their first Super Bowl game since 1988 this Sunday, the NFL franchise in Houston has been pondering its next head coach.
The Houston Texans are just completing their 20th season in the NFL. Houston (the Texans and, before then, the “Luv’ Ya Blue” Oilers) have never played in a Super Bowl game. That elite group of teams also includes the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Alas, that isn’t an elite list which any NFL team should want to be known for.
Two years ago in the 2019 NFL season, the Cincinnati Bengals finished the regular season with a league-worst 2-14 record. The team’s young head coach (then 36-year old Zac Taylor) had just completed his first year with Cincinnati and many worried that the team’s issues were too big for him to handle.
That same year, the Houston Texans had just completed a 10-6 regular season and lost in the AFC Divisional round of the playoffs to the Kansas City Chiefs 51-31.
Over the past couple of years, these franchises have passed themselves like two elevators going different directions.
The Bengals improved (slightly) to 4-11-1 in 2020 and then blossomed into this year’s 10-7 team. The “Who Dey” Bengals have reeled off three straight playoff wins to capture the AFC title and will play in this Sunday’s Super Bowl game against the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams.
Meanwhile, the Houston Texans have quite literally imploded with back-to-back losing seasons. They posted a 4-12 record in 2020 and 4-13 in 2021’s first year of the NFL’s 17-game regular season. After the team’s playoff loss to Kansas City two years ago, the Texans former Head Coach/General Manager Bill O’Brien shocked the NFL world by inexplicably dealing one of the AFC’s premier receivers in D’Andre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for a running back whose best playing days were likely behind him (David Johnson).
Bill O’Brien’s questionable personnel decisions after being handed the GM duties in Houston would eventually be his downfall. When the team started the 2020 season 0-4, O’Brien was fired.
Since that time, things have only worsened for the Houston Texans.
Longtime defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel (age 72 at the time) was promoted to become the team’s head coach for the remainder of the 2020 regular season. Though he guided the team to a 4-8 finish during his short stint with the team, Crennel was not made the team’s permanent head coach. However, he was named as the Texans “Senior Advisor for Football Performance” (translated – he was being paid to stick around another year – just in case).
After the season, Texans long-time All-Pro defensive end J.J. Watt refused to sign a new contract with the team and joined his former teammate D’Andre Hopkins with the Arizona Cardinals. It turned out to be a wise choice as the Cardinals made it into the NFC playoffs this season.
Meanwhile back in Houston, the team named 65-year old career NFL and college football assistant coach David Culley to become the Texans top man last season. Culley had worked at 15 different assistant coaching positions (college and pro) during his 40+ year coaching career before being named a head coach for the first time in Houston last year.
Alas, the Texans finished 2021 with another 4-win season.
Despite the team’s poor on-field record, the undermanned Texans competed well and kept most games close. Many expected Culley to receive another season to try and turn things around, but he was fired recently after just one first year as Houston’s head coach.
David Culley was certainly not the biggest problem for the Houston Texans last year.
The team’s All-Pro quarterback, Deshaun Watson, was kept off the field for the entire 2021 season after being named in several lawsuits. A number of local women have alleged sexual misconduct by Watson after they were hired to provide him physical therapy and “messages”. Those court cases are still lingering, but the Texans continued to pay Watson his salary of $35 million though he never played a down for the Texans in 2021.
With back-to-back 4-12 and 4-13 seasons, the Houston Texans are in need of a miracle worker.
Yet, Monday afternoon’s headlines indicate that the team has saddled-up another old war horse to lead the charges for the Houston Texans next season.
63-year old Lovie Smith has become the new head football coach for the Houston Texans.
Lovie Lee Smith is best known for his long-time job coaching the Chicago Bears from 2004-2012. He led the team into one Super Bowl game (losing to Payton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts to end the 2006 season).
He would later become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014. He was fired by the Bucs after just two seasons with his teams posting an 8-24 record.
Smith’s most recent head coaching tenure was with college football’s Illinois Fighting Illini. The gig ended after five seasons in 2020 after Lovie Smith’s teams posted a 17-39 record for the Big Ten school.
Since being fired from his college coaching job in 2020, Lovie Smith joined the staff of the (wait for it) Houston Texans in 2021 and was the team’s defensive coordinator last season.
For what it’s worth, the Texans ranked 31st (out of 32 NFL teams) in team defense last season.
In making the hiring announcement late Monday, Texans General Manager Nick Caserio said, “We had numerous discussions with countless coaches, executives, and players, and what revealed itself is that Lovie has both the leadership and people skills it takes to lead us forward. We both understand how much work is in front of us, but we embrace the responsibility and look forward to continuing to build a program that can have sustained success.”
Let’s briefly return to the Cincinnati Bengals for a moment.
After the Bengals hired the young Zac Taylor to become the new head coach, the team’s executive management team has also drafted wisely, too. The Bengals selected quarterback Joe Burrow from LSU with their #1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft. In addition to Burrow, the Bengals have added several other talented offensive players for Joe Burrow to utilize so that the team’s offense can keep the Bengals close in nearly every game.
In other words, the Cincinnati Bengals have executed a purposeful strategy to build a top-rated offense around their young quarterback. Two years later, both the coach and quarterback are now heading into this week’s Super Bowl game.
Meanwhile in Houston, the franchise has not been able to recover from the damage which former head coach and General Manager Bill O’Brien inflicted to the team. And, of course, the Texans certainly didn’t know that their star quarterback, Deshaun Watson, was going to get himself into so much legal trouble off the field, either.
In 2021, the Houston Texans ranked woeful 30th in team offense and 31st in team defense out of the 32 teams in the league. This team needs a total rebuild to become competitive once again.
However, the Houston Texans have decided to hire yet another in their recent line of “caretaker” type of head football coaches to run the team this season.
It’s not like Lovie Smith was the team’s only choice for the head coaching job. The team interviewed a number of younger (and less experienced) football hands before settling on Lovie Smith.
According to the Texans own website, the interviewed candidates have included:
Brian Flores – Age 41 – recently fired head football coach for the Miami Dolphins.
Joe Lombardi – Age 50 – Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator
Hines Ward – Age 45 – Receivers coach, Florida Atlantic and ex- Pittsburgh Steelers great
Jonathan Gannon – Age 39 – defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles
Josh McCown – Age 42 – Longtime back-up NFL QB with no pro coaching experience
Kevin O’Connell – Age 36 – Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator
Instead of taking a chance and hiring a young coach to rebuild the football team, the Houston Texans have settled for an experienced NFL head coach whose recent track record doesn’t indicate that he is likely to turn around this sinking ship. Lovie Smith may be a fine person on and off the field, but his recent track record as a head coach does not demonstrate that he is the right man to lead a successful makeover for this football team.
Is it possible that the ownership and executive management team of the Houston Texans believes that this club still has enough football talent but simply needs a stable and experienced hand to help steady the ship? If so, Lovie Smith seems like a fine choice for the job.
If the Texans’ upper management actually believes that the team’s talent level is on-par with the other NFL franchises, they are obviously not watching the same team several million Houstonians are being forced to watch on television every Sunday afternoon in the fall.
The Houston Texans are owned by the McNair family. The team’s founder, Bob McNair, passed away in 2018, but his wife (Janice) and son (Cal) have been calling the shots ever since.
After Bob McNair’s son, Cal, was elevated to become the team’s CEO in January, 2019, the on-field fortunes of the Houston Texans have been sinking.
Sadly, the only people in Houston who apparently don’t seem to be very concerned about this declining football team are the team’s owners. Football fans of in-state rival Dallas Cowboys will nod their head in sympathy as poor business decisions being made by a team owner’s family (in their case, the family of Jerry Jones) often backfire. Remember, Dallas hasn’t appeared in a Super Bowl since 1995.
As long as the other members of the “We haven’t been to a single Super Bowl yet” quartet (Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, and Jacksonville Jaguars) fails to make it to the Super Bowl anytime soon, it would appear that the executive suite of the Houston Texans organization seems quite satisfied with their niche remaining near the bottom of the NFL for years to come.
Until and unless season ticket sales take a dive in Houston, the Texans’ ownership seems to be quite willing to keep giving the city’s pro football fans more of the same mediocrity.