The most aggravating and disappointing Texans season is over after a 16-10 loss to Tennessee. The game featured the key element that contributed to most of the rest of the losses in the historic losing streak that killed playoff hopes and sent your team to the bottom of the league: turnovers.
Matt Schaub got the start in place of an injured Case Keenum and threw two interceptions and had a 'friendly-fire' fumble on a snap. Jonathan Grimes got the start at running back and racked up 126 total yards but also fumbled. He and Schaub clicked for six completions as the Texans were hot on the opening drive, scoring a touchdown. But Houston never really got it going again until the second to last drive, eventually stalling at the Titans' one yard line.
The defense kept the Texans in it, as they have for most of the games this season. And the offense sputtered, as they have much of the time.
It was a bizarre year and a terrible send-off to the Kubiak era. Under the Houstonian, the Texans were usually reliable on offense. This season, they made excruciating mistakes and had tremendous difficulty scoring. They averaged only a touchdown per game in the second half and often put the defense in perilous situations with ghastly turnovers or allowed opponents to score on defense with five consecutive games featuring interceptions returned for touchdowns.
No one saw this coming. Sure, the Texans had trouble down the stretch last season. But even the harshest Kubiak-Schaub critics thought this squad was headed back to the post season. Instead, they have earned the number one pick in the draft.
Big changes are on the way. Good coaches will lose jobs and a new era will begin. It's been the rockiest of roads. The football equivalent of a haz-mat crew will come in to decipher the mess and put things back together.
The hope for a bright future is strong but the sadness is still sinking in over a season gone horribly wrong that seemingly no one could do anything about.
