There's a lack of knowledge, and then there's just being knowingly obtuse. I have to think that Chron Three-Stooges CheerMedia columnist John McClain is intentionally trolling the City of Houston this week.
First, he ranks the Texans 32nd, and dead last in his weekly NFL power rankings and then he follows up with today's missive stating that firing Head Coach Gary Kubiak and General Manager Rick Smith would be a dumb move. Granted, the title, and the beginning of his column makes reference to "House-cleaning" or, pretty much getting rid of everyone and starting from scratch, but it's clear in the piece that McClain doesn't think ANYONE should be dismissed for this failure.
That's either the definition of insanity or intentionally anti-Texan. There have been rumors in Houston that the latter is true. Yes, his Twitter feed has become comedy legend over the course of this year. Whether he considers the Texans to be "pathetic", "horrendous" or the "worst he's seen in over 30 years of football" (which indicates that he hasn't been watching all that closely) the angry old man act that McClain puts on has been rumored to be intentional, a poke in the eye to the Houston fan who he has a very real grudge against for not treating (in his mind) Bud Adams right before he spirited the Oilers out of town. In other words, McClain is a Titans fan, and revels in the misery of Houston's team and its fans. In this McClain is not alone. There are many members of the CheerMedia who are known to actively root against Houston's hometown teams, either because it makes for easy sports talk or because they've developed a dislike of the fans over the years. It's much the same with the University of Houston whose fans, to be fair, have brought a lot of that upon themselves.
Much of the blame lies with the CheerMedia, because there are still too many journos trotting out the old saw that the Texans are "the most talented 2-10 team in the league" forgetting for a moment that they're the ONLY 2-10 team in the league, the argument is ridiculous at face value. Admittedly, I didn't see a 10 game losing streak, complete and total meltdown coming this year but at least I had the foresight to see that this wasn't a "Super Bowl" year as many in the media predicted. I had them pegged at 9-7, making the playoffs via wild card and losing in the first round. After the first six games it became readily apparent that something was wrong, something that Kubiak and Co had no idea how to fix.
Which brings us to the point. (Finally) If you have a team that's listing and the current coaching staff and football personnel don't seem to have an idea how to fix it, then it's time to clean house. What's happening now are the same mistakes every week. From busted coverage to poor offensive line play to just outright stupid penalties we're not seeing different problems every week, we're seeing the exact same things happen (no halftime adjustments for instance) that are driving fans crazy. All we hear in press conferences from the football leadership is how "frustrated" they are. That's much like a doctor who "feels your pain" but doesn't have a damn clue what to prescribe to end it.
In McClain's world you're just supposed to sit back and endure. Never mind that teams like Kansas City have made a one year turn-around while the Texans fall to the cellar, never mind that, for several years running now, there has been at least one team go from 6-10 to 10-6 or better (while the Texans made slow, incremental progress and ultimately stagnating), what you're supposed to do is just sit down, shut up, and bear another 7 or so years of 7-9, 8-8 or 9-7 with an early flame out in the playoffs because changing things around would just be too risky.
As a San Francisco 49ers fan I can tell you that cleaning house is often the way to go. It was done with Harbaugh and, after making the Super Bowl last year and then suffering a rash of injuries, the team seems primed to make a deep playoff run again. A house cleaning for a bad organization is usually needed. The Texans are a bad organization who need both an intellectual and talent infusion immediately.
Unless, that is, you want them to lose. Then you might think that staying the course is the best way to go. It's either that or we have to all agree that McClain, despite 30 plus years of covering the league, really hasn't learned anything about the sport on which he's reporting.
