The Texans Appear to Be Texaning Again

A lot of people figured when the Texans fired head coach/GM Bill O'Brien earlier this season, all of the issues in Houston would magically disappear. Unfortunately for Texans fans, no magic pixy dust appears to have been sprinkled over this franchise yet. If anything, it looks they're up to their old tricks again.

Over the last week, franchise leader J.J. Watt said he doesn't want to be part of a rebuild in Houston and the Texans inexplicably fired VP of Communications Amy Palcic because she's was no longer a "cultural fit," according to a poorly-framed PR release from the team. After she was let go, media members ripped the decision to fire Palcic and Watt likewise questioned the decision. Since then Palcic has hired a Houston-based lawyer to evaluate the case and rumors of Watt's discontent have remained.

The latest news out of Houston this morning from insider Ian Rapoport is there's a "strong possibility" the Texans hire Romeo Crennel as their head coach. He's currently the interim head coach following the dismissal of O'Brien and has gone 2-2. While that performance has to be seen as a positive step after their disastrous start to the season, hiring Crennel to be the permanent head coach is as uninspiring as it gets.

In his career as a head coach, Crennel has accumulated a record of 30-57. While he did have one winning season in four as Browns head coach from 2005-08, which has to be considered something of a minor miracle, he's never led a team to more than 6 wins any other season. Even more disheartening for people who like to watch Deshaun Watson do his thing, Crennel's teams have ranked 32nd, 30th, 8th, 30th, 31st and 32nd in scoring offense and 26th, 27th, 8th, 30th, 30th and 32nd in passing touchdowns.

He's a defensive coordinator with a history of offensive futility as a head coach. Is that the person you want leading your team, or Watson, in today's NFL?

A lot could still change and the Texans could very well hire a coach outside of Crennel -- someone more inspiring like Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. But based on everything that's happened this week, it's fair to wonder why anyone would be optimistic about something positive like that happening in Houston.

In the last week, they fired one of the most respected people within their organization and alienated their longtime franchise leader. That comes following an offseason where they traded away Watson's favorite target, DeAndre Hopkins, for pennies on the dollar and acquired two talented but oft-injured veterans, David Johnson and Brandin Cooks. But at least those catastrophes can be attributed to O'Brien's missteps. Who do you blame now?