Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Texans fire O’Brien
The Houston Texans fired Coach and General Manager Bill O’Brien (above) a day after Sunday’s 3123 loss to the Vikings dropped the Texans to 0-4 for the first time since 2008.
HOUSTON — The Houston Texans had faith that Coach Bill O’Brien was the man to lead them to their first championship.
So much faith in fact that they made the unusual move of making him the team’s general manager, too.
But O’Brien didn’t perform well in either role, leading to his firing Monday.
He was let go a day after Sunday’s 31-23 loss to the Vikings dropped the Texans to 0-4 for the first time since 2008.
“In this business, it’s a bottomline business, and we weren’t able to get it to where we needed to get it,” O’Brien said.
As general manager, O’Brien received almost universal criticism when he shipped superstar receiver DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona for running back David Johnson and draft picks.
Asked to reflect on some of his personnel decisions, O’Brien said he had no regrets.
“Every decision we made was always in the best interest of the team,” he said. “We had long conversations. We put a lot of research into them. There were things that happened within the walls of an organization that the outside public will really never know. And that’s just the way it is.”
The pressure on O’Brien only intensified as the Texans limped out to the terrible start with Johnson struggling. Their running game was the worst in the NFL, and the defense is allowing the most yards in the league.
O’Brien was in his seventh season in Houston, where he compiled a 52- 48 record. He won the AFC South four times in his tenure, including the past two years.