Your conclusion is right about McNair and Adams.
But Adams wasn't a bad guy, or mean guy, or anything of the like. He just wanted a new stadium, even if it were in another city.
As was noted on the NFL Network documentary on the '93 Oilers last week, had the Oilers beaten the Chiefs in the playoffs, he likely would have gotten it.
And there would be no Bud Light (McNair) and the Texans.
Decades of frustration and ill-will were built up when the Oilers choked three playoff appearances in a row ('92-'94') with arguably the most talented roster in the league. It all imploded after the Chiefs game, but I do not believe a win in the second round would have been enough to appease Oilers fans. I know McClain said it on the episode, but I think they call him "the general" because he generalizes everything.
The Oilers would have had to be in the Super Bowl for Houston fans to give Bud a stadium deal at that point.
I do not think Bud Adams was "bad" or "evil", but he was extremely arrogant and thought he knew better than experienced football professionals regarding how to run a football team. He was trying to be like Al Davis, but lacked the football acumen to understand big picture analysis on hiring coaches and scouts.
I think McNair is 100 times better than Bud, simply because he does not act like he knows how to run a team. He is a CEO that hires pros to run his business, and he's still experiencing a learning curve. It takes time, but I have little doubt that he's going to get better at it with experience.
Or it's an even simpler answer - he's tanking the remainder of the season for the #1 pick.
It's not that far out of the question. Dutchrudder and I had a conversation a couple of months ago about tanking and the Colts situation with Luck. I was against at the time, foolishly believing this team would pull out of its tailspin this year. However, at this point, Dutch was on the money and it would not be that hard for an owner to insist on certain decisions to help the team lose games. They could have had their evaluation of Keenum 6 weeks ago, but decided to let him play it out because it was the most likely way to lose out for the no. 1 pick.
It is not unrealistic to believe that they saw this season as a lost cause awhile back and started looking ahead to 2014.