Congrats on The Texans Win, Now Let’s Not Do It Again

Houston’s victory over the Titans puts them in quite the predicament

The Houston Texans end their nine-game winless streak through a bumpy performance and against a dwindling Tennessee Titans. The AFC South continues to prove to be the best source of wins for the floundering Texans franchise amounting to seven of the last ten wins since 2020.

With the Texans facing two AFC South opponents in their last two games, there’s an immediate flash of concern that we feasibly could lose the first overall pick by winning one of the next two games. A victory over either the Colts or the Jaguars would AND the Bears lose their next two games would put Chicago ahead of the Texans for the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Before we bemoan this team and franchise further, we must properly commend the Texans’ effort. On the field, you cannot dismiss the resilience and fortitude of the players. The defense plays with a pride unseen in previous iterations. Meanwhile, the offense, missing half of its starters and losing its right tackle mid game, mustered together enough competence to not blow away the game… even when Mills fumbled multiple snaps

The 3-12 Chicago Bears are falling a part at the seams and properly tanking their way to a top three pick. They play two divisional rivals as well; at the Lions and vs the Vikings. Unlike the Texans their two opponents are looking to win, not lose.

Both of their opponents are in must-win games over the next two weeks as they vie for the playoffs. Chicago will be well suited by losing out to further support their rebuild.

A result that very well could have saved Head Coach Lovie Smith could make General Manager Nick Caserio’s job that much more worrisome. The Bears may not be completely in the market for a first overall pick, but they would entertain trading out of the pick for the right bounty. If they weren’t in the same division, I’d say the Detroit Lions would be the perfect match. They currently hold the projected fourth and 18th picks.

Losing out on the first overall pick would be a tragic epitome of a woefully incompetent season. It would be almost cliche for the Texans to be this horrifically poor for the entire season only to throw it away down the stretch for meaningless pride. I’ll never knock players putting in maximum effort during their careers or coaches trying to save their jobs, but I’ll be damned it we weren’t doing an elite job throwing away games down the stretch.

If the Texans do lose to the Colts, who are 1-7 in their last eight games, they will most likely surpass the Bears with one game left. Honestly, winning would be a fireable offense for Nick Caserio. We are either full commit on the tank or we aren’t. For a franchise that knows how to be at the bottom rung of the league, they need to stick to what they know. Lose.