As the season winds down, I was thinking about the end of last year and where the Texans are now.
The Texans are the in last place in the division, but there are ten teams still behind the Texans in the league. Four of them have 5-9 records too; so there are six teams that have a worse record than the Texans.
Six.
The Lions are one game behind with two to play. It would be infelicitous to finish with the same or worse record as that team. The Browns are tied with the Texans. So is Washington, that model for everything bad in a franchise.
I was reading old threads from just after the season ended last year. The talk then was what was separating the Texans from the elite teams - what "tweaks" needed to be made. This year the talk is about big changes to get competitive again, or small changes to get back to average.
Talk last year was still about incremental improvement, the right way, and being on the cusp of greatness. I'm glad the right way talk is finally over, since it was mainly a hopeful fiction anyway. The tenor of the board now seems to be how not to lose too much ground while fixing things. it is unfortunate the owner still thinks they are on the verge of greatness.
The decision to go "one more year" with the status quo has set the team back a couple of years. Had they changed, they'd be a year through any restructuring a new coach would do now, and possibly (probably?) be no worse than the current 5-9. Next year would then have been a chance for real growth under a new regime. It's likely we get one more year to try to stay average instead - or to somehow get over the hump using the same failed approach.
The Texans are the in last place in the division, but there are ten teams still behind the Texans in the league. Four of them have 5-9 records too; so there are six teams that have a worse record than the Texans.
Six.
The Lions are one game behind with two to play. It would be infelicitous to finish with the same or worse record as that team. The Browns are tied with the Texans. So is Washington, that model for everything bad in a franchise.
I was reading old threads from just after the season ended last year. The talk then was what was separating the Texans from the elite teams - what "tweaks" needed to be made. This year the talk is about big changes to get competitive again, or small changes to get back to average.
Talk last year was still about incremental improvement, the right way, and being on the cusp of greatness. I'm glad the right way talk is finally over, since it was mainly a hopeful fiction anyway. The tenor of the board now seems to be how not to lose too much ground while fixing things. it is unfortunate the owner still thinks they are on the verge of greatness.
The decision to go "one more year" with the status quo has set the team back a couple of years. Had they changed, they'd be a year through any restructuring a new coach would do now, and possibly (probably?) be no worse than the current 5-9. Next year would then have been a chance for real growth under a new regime. It's likely we get one more year to try to stay average instead - or to somehow get over the hump using the same failed approach.
