As some of you in this subreddit know, I’ve been lobbying strongly for Bill O’Brien to be fired for a while. The reason for that is because I was at the point as a Texans fan where there was absolutely nothing BoB could do short of winning a Super Bowl to prove to me that he was capable of winning a Super Bowl.

This is why, as a coda to this nightmarish period in our franchise’s history, I wanted to put together a post documenting every major mistake BoB made during his tenure. I know I am not alone in having wanted BoB gone long ago. Some of you wanted him gone years ago. With this post, I want to explain to anyone who may still have doubts about this move exactly why it was time to move on.

Some of these moves were not BoB alone. Some of these issues were in conjunction with former GM Rick Smith, for example, but seeing as how much of a control freak BoB has proven to be, I refuse to believe that he played a minor role in these key decisions. That is why in this assessment I will place at a minimum partial responsibility on him. Make no mistake, this will be a harsh assessment. And I will not take time to praise him for his accomplishments — I’ll let others do that. Feel free to disagree with this post if you want, but it makes no difference, he’s gone — just as I’ve long wanted him to be.

The 2014 NFL draft

BoB was hired in 2014. He was the top coaching candidate that season due to his work re-establishing the Penn State program. The Texans lured him in in part because we had the No. 1 overall pick.

BoB had a bevy of options with that pick, but no obvious choice. BoB and Smith decided on Jadeveon Clowney, and in my assessment, this was the first mistake of his tenure. Clowney proved to be injury prone, and the relationship ended in a complete failure, but we’ll get to that later. By drafting Clowney, we missed out on other prospects, most notably Khalil Mack, who won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016.

But the 2014 draft was a failure in other ways. At the time, we were in desperate need of a QB. Fortunately, we did not draft Blake Bortles or Johnny Manziel, but in the second round, we also chose to pass on Derek Carr as well as Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of Xavier Su’a-Filo, who very quickly proved to be a bust. Ultimately, we waited until the fourth round to pick Tom Savage. This failure to obtain a franchise QB in BoB’s first year as coach put us on a path that defined his tenure.

Though we had great players for most of his time as HC, it wasn’t until the latter years that we finally got a franchise QB. Deshaun Watson is an elite QB, but the path we took to get him cost us tons of cap space and a lot of draft picks. We brought in BoB because he had a reputation of being a QB whisperer, but this proved false. His failure to select a good QB in his initial draft or groom Savage into a franchise QB was his first mistake.

The 30-0 playoff blowout

BoB led the Texans to his first division championship in his second season as HC. That accomplishment was done with a meager 9-7 record and was only good enough to secure the Texans the 4th seed in the AFC and a home playoff game against the 11-5 Kansas City Chiefs, the 5th seed in the AFC.

As proved to be defining attribute of BoB’s Texans, the team was absolutely unprepared. The Chiefs returned the opening kickoff 106 yards for a touchdown, and things only got worse.

The Texans this season and game were led by Brian Hoyer, who was signed in the offseason after backing up Tom Brady in New England during BoB’s time as QB coach and OC for the Patriots. By half time of the playoff game against the Chiefs, Hoyer had thrown 3 interceptions and lost 1 fumble. Many fans were calling for a QB change, but Hoyer was allowed to finish the game, throwing an additional interception in the second half.

The signing of Brock Osweiler

Following Hoyer’s playoff debacle, the Texans were desperate for a franchise QB. The top QBs in the draft were expected to go way before the Texans were picking, so in March 2016, Smith and BoB gave a whopping four-year $72 million contract to Brock Osweiler. The Texans gave the contract to Osweiler after his promising 2015 season, in which he played instead of an aging Peyton Manning in some games.

However, it was widely reported that BoB and Smith gave the contract without having ever met Osweiler in person. That sort of detail could be looked over had the signing worked out, but after the debacle that became Osweiler’s time in Houston, it exemplified BoB’s willingness to make reckless moves. Osweiler had an up and down season and was ultimately benched in Week 15 in favor of Savage. Osweiler only returned to the field after Savage was taken out due to concussion protocol.

Osweiler led the team to BoB’s first playoff win in a duel versus the Raiders and fourth-round rookie QB Connor Cook. The following week, the Texans were blown out 34-16 by the Patriots, in a game in which Osweiler threw 3 interceptions.

After Osweiler’s up and down season, the Texans decided it was time to move on. Most notably, Smith and BoB tried to make a run at Tony Romo, who was moving on from the Cowboys after losing his starting job to Dan Prescott. To clear cap space for this potential signing, Smith and BoB traded Osweiler, a 2017 sixth-round pick and a 2018 second-round pick in exchange for the Browns 2017 fourth-round pick. This was the first sign that BoB was not afraid to mortgage the long-term health of the franchise for short-sighted progress.

Adding insult to injury, Romo decided to retire and be a TV analysts for CBS rather than play for the Texans. In short, the Texans paid the Browns a second rounder to take Osweiler and his contract from us for no reason.

The failure to protect Deshaun Watson

Despite failing to land Romo, Smith and BoB salvaged the 2017 offseason by finally getting their franchise QB in Deshaun Watson. The move, however, did not come cheap — the Texans had to trade their 2017 and 2018 first round picks to the Browns in order to move up. The move was certainly worth it, but once again, BoB and Smith mortgaged the team’s future.

But after acquiring their franchise QB, BoB and Smith failed to protect him. The pair did not extend LT Duane Brown after he asked for a new contract in 2016 despite being one of the top offensive linemen in the league. The Texans entered the 2017 season with Brown holding out.

That wasn’t a major issue when the team started the season with Savage as the starting QB, but Watson quickly took the job from him before the end of the first game. Despite the first-rounder taking over the job, BoB and Smith failed to make peace with Brown, and for six weeks, the Texans threw Watson onto the field with Kendall Lamm and Chris Clark as his LTs. Both players had been undrafted.

Brown finally returned to the team, despite no new contract, in Week 8 of the season, protecting Watson during an epic 41-38 loss to the Seahawks. But immediately after, Brown requested a trade after owner Bob McNair made racially insensitive comments about NFL players. Brown was traded to the Seahawks along with a 2018 fifth round pick in exchange for a 2018 third rounder and 2019 second rounder.

McNair’s racist comments are not BoB or Smith’s fault, but their unwillingness to pay their LT to protect Watson or salvage the relationship with Brown after the owner’s mistake proved to be a consequential mistake. After three seasons without a franchise QB, BoB finally had found his man, and when it came time to protect him, BoB did not show the appropriate urgency. The team will continue to pay for this mistake through next year’s draft.

As for those draft picks the Texans received from the Seahawks, the 2018 third rounder was used to pick OT Martinas Rankin, who missed his entire rookie season with an injury and was traded in 2019. The second rounder was used on Lonnie Johnson Jr.

The office politics

The Texans lost Watson to an ACL tear after the contest versus the Seahawks, and the team finished the season a middling 4-12 and without a first or second round pick in the 2018 draft.

After four seasons together, Smith and BoB’s relationship had grown problematic, toxic and dysfunctional, according to the Houston Chronicle. At this point, Smith had been the Texans GM for 11 seasons, and many fans were ready for him to go. BoB exploited this frustration, and at the end of the season, according to Sporting News, he went to BoB McNair with an ultimatum — either Smith goes or he goes.

A few days later, Smith announced he would be stepping away from the Texans to be with his wife, who had breast cancer. The personnel change was presented as Smith leaving on his own accord, but the reporting around it would argue otherwise.

The Texans hired Brian Gaine to replace Smith, and the pair got off to a quick start, notably drafting Justin Reid and signing Tyrann Mathieu. The team kicked off the 2018 season with an 0-3 start, but miraculously, it finished the season 11-5 and won the AFC South. In the playoffs, the Texans yet again lost a home playoff game versus the division rival Colts, with the team once again looking completely unprepared.

Entering the 2019 offseason, the Texans faced a glaring need at LT and needed to re-sign Mathieu, CB Kareem Jackson and Clowney. Fortunately for the team, the Texans had more than $74 million in cap space, and yet, it failed to do sign any of these players. Mathieu left for Kansas City, Jackson went to Denver and the Texans failed to sign top OT free agent Trent Brown, who would finish the 2019 season as a Pro Bowler for the Raiders. The team also failed to re-sign Clowney, but instead placed a franchise tag on him in hopes of signing a multi-year contract.

In the middle of the disappointing 2019 offseason, the Texans shockingly fired Gaine in June 2019. PFT reported that Gains and BoB disagreed on what to do about Clowney’s future, with Gaine preferring to re-sign him to a long-term contract.

A few days after Gaine’s firing, the Patriots filed tampering charges agains the Texans after the team tried to poach Patriots Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio. Without a GM, with a major hole at LT and a worsening relationship with the first draft pick of his Texans tenure, BoB became the de facto GM, with Jack Easterby as his deputy.

The failures as GM

Now firmly entrenched as the sole man in charge of the Texans, BoB tried to solve two problems at once by attempting to trade Clowney to the re-building Dolphins in exchange for LT Laremy Tunsil. Clowney had no intention to play for the Dolphins, but BoB was dead set on Tunsil. As his first major decision as GM, BoB trade a king’s haul to the Dolphins for the LT.

BoB sent a 2020 first rounder, 2021 first rounder, 2021 second rounder, CB Johnson Bademosi and OT Julien Davenport for Tunsil, WR Kenny Stills, a 2020 fourth rounder and a 2021 sixth rounder. The trade solved the Texans glaring hole at LT, but BoB did not immediately sign Tunsil to an extension. Additionally, by taking on Stills, the Texans would take a $7 million cap hit in the following 2020 season.

That same day, BoB sent Clowney eastward, trading him to the Seahawks in exchange for LB Jacob Martin, LB Barkevious Mingo and a 2020 third rounder. That pick would be dealt to the Raiders in October for Gareon Conley to help the Texans CBs, which had become a position of need after the team failed to resign Jackson.

Prior to the Clowney and Tunsil trades, BoB also shipped what became a 2020 third rounder for RB Duke Johnson.

The Texans finished the 2019 season with a 10-6 record and once again AFC South champs. On the final game of the season, BoB handed a four-year, $53.5 million contract extension to LB Whitney Mercilus, who was 29 at the time.

In the playoffs, the Texans had to go to overtime to beat the Bills with a FG in a game where Houston allowed the Bills to stick around far longer than they should’ve. In the divisional round, the Texans predictably squandered a 24-0 lead to the Chiefs in an epic comeback win that included a failed fake punt on 4th and 4 from the Texans territory in the second quarter. The Chiefs blew out the Texans 51-31.

Just 16 days after the epic collapse, the Texans formally named BoB their GM and promoted BoB right-hand man Easterby to executive vice president of football operations.

In March 2020, BoB carried out what is without a doubt one of the worst trades in sports history when he sent beloved All-Pro WR DeAndre Hopkins and a 2020 fourth rounder to the Cardinals in exchange for RB David Johnson, a 2020 second rounder and a 2021 fourth rounder. That same day, the Vikings traded WR Stefon Diggs and a 2020 seventh rounder for the Bills 2020 first rounder, fifth rounder, sixth rounder and 2021 fourth rounder.

The Texans reportedly traded Hopkins after he requested a new contract and due to his strained relationship with BoB. Hopkins would’ve counted $7 million toward Houston’s cap in 2020 and $12.5 million in 2021. To replace Hopkins, the Texans traded its 2020 second rounder to the Rams for WR Brandin Cooks and a 2022 fourth rounder. Cooks will count $8 million toward the cap in 2020 and $12 million in 2021 if the Texans keep him. The Texans also signed WR Randall Cobb, who will count $6.1 million toward the cap in 2020 and $10.6 million in 2021. David Johnson, meanwhile, counts $11.2 million toward the cap in 2020 and $9 million toward the cap in 2021.

BoB was in a tough spot extending Hopkins because he eventually needed to extend Deshaun Watson and had yet to extend Tunsil. And with such a strained relationship with Hopkins, he was unable to work with the future hall-of-famer toward finding a way to have him honor the remaining three years on his contract or deal him for a better return.

The following month, BoB finally extended Tunsil to a deal that the LT felt comfortable enough to negotiate on his own. Tunsil signed a three-year $66 million contract, making him the highest-paid OL and setting him up to become a free agent once again when he is 29 years old.

BoB’s toxic personality and inferior negotiation skills were put on display that same month during the 2020 draft when he reportedly tried and failed to pull off a trade with the Lions. The tirade was caught on camera amid the NFL’s virtual draft. It was reminiscent of a similar BoB meltdown when he yelled “You suck too, motherfucker,” at a fan following a blowout loss to the Broncos in December.

The future

That brings us to now. The Texans are predictably 0-4, and we are finally rid of BoB.

Throughout his tenure, BoB displayed a failure to delegate tasks to his deputies, an inability to work with others, a toxic personality that hampered his relationships with his best players, a reckless attitude that consistently led to short-sighted decisions that mortgaged the long-term fortunes of the franchise and an inability to coach at a high-enough level to compete against his peers in the games that mattered most.

BoB’s firing is not without a massive amount of collateral damage.

BoB shipped away Hopkins, a fan favorite, future hall-of-famer in his prime before the team had to and without a real attempt to salvage the relationship. The Texans now have an offense that is unable to run the ball or catch it consistently and a defense that is unable to rush QBs or stop the run. The team also cannot start re-building by tanking because it is without its 2021 first and second rounders. Additionally, the team is expected to be approximately $11 million over the salary cap heading into 2021. What’s more, the team is unable to start solving its draft and cap problems because there is no GM. David Johnson, Cobb and Mercilus will all be on the roster in 2021, with Cobb and Mercilus in their 30s and Johnson visibly past his prime. And finally, BoB’s right-hand man Easterby is still employed by the team.

And yet, I believe the team finally has brighter days ahead. With BoB fired, the toxic office politics that have distracted from the on-field play will finally be out of the way. The team has its franchise QB, and it has a head start on its peers to evaluate the NFL landscape for the best GM and HC to build around Watson.

I’ll be rooting for the Texans to go on a run in the remaining games of this season (remember, there’s now an extra playoff spot), and I cannot wait to see who we hire to lead us into the future.