HOUSTON — The Texans have fired head coach and general manager Bill O’Brien and named associate head coach Romeo Crennel the team’s interim head coach.
The McNair family, who own the team, fired O’Brien after the Texans fell to 0-4 on Sunday, losing to the previously winless Vikings.
“On behalf of my family and our entire organization, I want to sincerely thank Bill O’Brien and his family for their impact on our franchise,” Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair said in a statement. “Bill’s leadership moved our organization forward as he guided us to four AFC South division championships, 52 wins and multiple playoff appearances during his tenure.”
Earlier on Monday, O’Brien was asked if he was concerned about his job status. He said that is something he doesn’t have control over.
“All I can control is what I can control, and I’ve got to do a better job with the team,” O’Brien said. “That’s obvious, and we’re going to work hard to do that.”
O’Brien was hired by the McNair family in 2014 after he spent two years at Penn State. In seven seasons in Houston, O’Brien went 52-48 and won four division titles.
After the Texans fired general manager Brian Gaine in 2017, O’Brien was given more power in personnel, but was not named general manager. Later that year, O’Brien traded 2014 No.1 pick Jadeveon Clowney to the Seattle Seahawks. That same day, O’Brien traded two first-round picks and a second-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Kenny Stills.
This offseason, O’Brien made one of his most controversial moves: trading wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins for running back David Johnson and a second-round pick.
The Texans started this season with what the Football Power Index said was the toughest schedule in the league against the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers before losing on Sunday to the Vikings. The 1992 Chargers are the only team in NFL history to make the playoffs after an 0-4 start.
Defensive end J.J. Watt, who called the start “terrible, “brutal” and “depressing,” said something has to change for the Texans to turn it around.
“We obviously have to do something different,” Watt said. “We are 0-4. Whatever we’re doing is not working. Something needs to change. Something needs to be different.”
Sources told ESPN’s Dianna Russini that things started to fall apart two weeks ago.
“That’s when [O’Brien] lost the team,” a source told Russini.
