TEXANS FIRE COACH/GM O’BRIEN AFTER AN 0-4 START TO CAMPAIGN
The Houston Texans fired coach and General Manager Bill O’Brien on Monday.
The firing comes 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 bottom-line business and we weren’t able to get it to where we needed to get it,” O’Brien said.
After assuming the role of general manager in the offseason, 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 ref lect 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 as their running game was the worst in the NFL and with the defense 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 ten
ure, including the past two years.
He came to Houston after spending 2012-13 as the coach at Penn State. The Texans job was his first NFL head coaching job, but he spent 2007-2011 working for coach Bill Belichick in New England, rising to the role of offensive coordinator in his last season.
Team owner Cal McNair announced the decision Monday and thanked O’Brien for his work with the team.
Romeo Crennel, who was the team’s assistant head coach, will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season.
NFL warns teams of forfeits
Amid the first sign that the novel coronavirus outbreak on the Titans might be abating, the NFL told the league’s head coaches and general managers during a call that teams must comply with the sport’s protocols and warned them in a memo that further violations could result in the loss of draft picks or even forfeits of games.
The NFL said it also is implementing a video surveillance program to monitor teams’ adherence to the inseason coronavirus protocols developed by the league and the NFL Players Association.
“Simply put, compliance is mandatory,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in the memo to teams.
The Titans received no positive results Monday in their most recent set of coronavirus tests, ending a string of six straight days with positive test results and marking a first step toward the NFL reopening the team’s facility and proceeding with its scheduled Week 5 game Sunday.
Notable
Nick Chubb has been stopped for a while. Cleveland’s powerful Pro Bowl running back will miss “several weeks” with a sprained ligament in his right knee, a major blow to the improved Browns (3-1), who are off to their best start since 2001.
• Sam Darnold and the Jets will need to wait a few more days before they know if he has a shot at playing next Sunday. The quarterback has a sprained right shoulder that could limit him at practice.