This is what Texans call a GM search?

It took a nationwide “search” for the Texans to pinpoint a rising NFL name who was working inside NRG Stadium for years? Brian T. Smith asks.

The Texans needed a search firm for this? Seriously? Brian Gaine’s name shot to the top of the next-man-up list as soon as the latest shakeup began on Kirby Drive. The Texans’ expected new general manager was employed by the team from February 2014 until May 2017. He didn’t want to leave then and departed for Buffalo only because the Texans’ old ways were holding him back.

But it took a nationwide “search” for the 4-12 Texans to pinpoint a rising NFL name who was working inside NRG Stadium for years?

No wonder Rick Smith received a 12-year job evaluation before the McNairs finally realized what their previous GM was lacking.

If this all works out and Bill O’Brien gets his guy along with a new contract extension, it will take years to fully evaluate whether Gaine was the right hire at the right time. But while money and years are still being finalized — more security and power for O’Brien; Gaine getting his first GM gig — it’s impossible to ignore the facts that have been presented.

Owner Bob McNair bought into what O’Brien was selling and is now betting big on his demanding coach finally figuring it all out in Year Five.

O’Brien is set to enter the 2018 season out of excuses. He has a young franchise quarterback in Deshaun Watson, a GM who

actually has his back, and more personal influence over the roster than ever before. If the Texans fail, the next fall guy is obviously the head coach.

Jimmy Raye III, the only other candidate interviewed, also was

already in the building. In a world of divided sides, Raye was viewed as a Smith guy. Which meant the moment it was decided that the Texans were sticking with O’Brien, a coach with a 31-33 career record had a 99 percent chance of getting a new GM viewed as an O’B guy.

The next time we see O’Brien, he better be beaming and dishing out high-fives. Few NFL coaches survive 4-12 and six consecutive losses to end a broken season. Fewer get it their way the year after.

Still unexplained: Why not conduct a real search? Multiple interviews with national names. A who’s-who collection of executives on the rise, all yearning to build a roster around Watson.

And why did the Texans allow/force Gaine to leave in the first place?

That’s the question I’m still trying to wrap my head around.

If O’Brien is coaching the Texans in the AFC championship game in a few years and Gaine has modernized the organization, it won’t matter as much. But right now, the fact the Texans are about to hand a GM job to a man they pushed away eight months ago — and that they interviewed only two internal candidates during a brief, confusing search process — again tells you how conflicted Kirby was in 2017.

Much has been made of the Texans’ other interview requests being denied (New England, Philadelphia), turned into a promotion (Green Bay) or simply turned down (Dallas). That’s just the game being the game and the NFL’s greasy machine grinding away.

The real issue is the Texans conducting a “search” that resulted in only two viable names, both of whom could have dialed McNair’s home number at any point during the past year.

Raye wasn’t getting the call with O’Brien already standing taller. Which means the Texans ultimately looked at just one name — the same one who was forced to head to Buffalo when the Texans overlooked him the first time. I’m sure it will all work out. Last year’s 4-12 will eventually become 12-4 again. The Texans will be smart enough to build a wall around Watson, and Gaine will stand up to and challenge O’Brien when he must. The GM search that really never was will produce a visionary who can work with O’Brien, finally push McNair toward the top and turn Kirby Drive into Houston’s version of 1 Patriot Place.

But if it doesn’t and the Texans are stuck in 9-7 land (or worse)?

McNair is going to wish the search firm actually conducted a search.