BREAKING: Texans Fire Bill O'Brien After 100th Game

Bill O'Brien Has Been In Charge Of Exactly 100 Houston Texans Games, And Today, The 'Mess Of Their Own Making' Sees The Coach/GM Getting Fired

The present is, at 0-4, not bright. ... and Bill OBrien is no longer a part of it.

The 2018 Houston Texans are one of just six teams to reach the NFL Playoffs following an 0-3 start, and that accomplishment is one of the feathers in the cap of boss Bill O’Brien. But he just supervised Game No. 100 in his reign of the Texans - a reign that this year, as SI's Conor Orr writes, was "a mess.''

And while the "mess'' might continue, the reign is over.

READ MORE: Orr - The Texans Appear Stuck in a Mess of Their Own Making'

READ MORE: 'Shuffling Deck Chairs': Vikings 31, Texans 23

The Texans on Monday fired the coach/GM of the club, as first reported by John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, in part because there is no relief in sight?

As we write this, all of New York is 0-4 as are the Texans, meaning a trio of teams will be jousting for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 Draft. But ... the Texans of course traded both their first- and second-round picks in 2021 to the Dolphins in the trade for offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil.

That was O'Brien's call. It has not worked.

Tunsil can still pay off, as can rookie defensive lineman Ross Blacklock (the payoff for the DeAndre Hopkins trade), as can the other "get'' in the swap, running back David Johnson (though Houston's ground game is now the NFL's worst).

But all of that was O'Brien's call. It has not worked.

Maybe the Texans got hosed with the opening schedule of Ravens, Chiefs and Steelers ... but Week 4 offered a reprieve of sorts with the winless Vikings in town. And they hosed themselves in that one.

READ MORE: The Bad, The Bad, And The Ugly: Texans Lose To Vikings

The chance to grab a win did not work.

SI's Conor Orr writes that O'Brien has built a "house of cards'' after having "seized power'' and "is creating a football team in his vision.''

In reverse order:

3) What is that "vision''? Except for the foundational signing of QB Deshaun Watson ... It's too blurry and not bright.

2) "Seizing power'' can be interpreted as something forceful and/or underhanded. O'Brien over the course of 100 games has made his moves openly ... and some of the "power-grabs'' now seem more like "grab-bagging,'' including the weekend's play-calling switch.

READ MORE: O'Brien Back In Control as Texans Play-Caller?

1) A "house of cards''? That characterization suggests that "O’Brien’s 100'' (or however many) was doomed to failure as soon as the Texans committed a misstep, or even felt a strong breeze. Yet as Orr points out, O'Brien "is 51–48 with four division titles and five winning seasons in six full years.'' That's success of a sort.

So, a flimsy "house of cards''? 

In terms of O'Brien's full body of work, we're not sure of that. But after the full 100 games? There is where the evaluation had to be made. To Orr's analogy: Can these "cards'' be re-shuffled? Can they be swapped in a way that results in a better hand? Did O'Brien ultimately need to be replaced at the table?

The Houston Texans have their answer. The Texans drove themselves into this ditch in the first place, as Orr writes, "A mess of their own making.'' ... and now Bill O'Brien is paying for his supervision of the mess.