Smith: A reality check after Texans’ win over Titans – Houston Chronicle

You can choose only one of the following.

The Tyrod Taylor-led Texans show improvement in the second half of the season and finish 5-12 or Sundays stunning road win over Tennessee is the highlight of the Texans season and they end up with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft.

Easy, right?

No-brainer.

Youre rooting for the 2-15 or, at best, 3-14 Texans. You want the honor of taking the second-best player available when the next draft rolls around. You want a young, super-talented name that the rebuilding Texans can actually build around.

Which means you already know the best thing for the Texans in 2022 and beyond is for the bottom-of-the league New York Jets to improve to 3-8 this Sunday inside a half-empty NRG Stadium and the bottom-of-the-league Texans to fall to 2-9, staying within sight of NFL-worst Detroit and remaining as close as possible to the top of the first round of the 2022 draft.

Texans 22, Tennessee 13 on Sunday was truly a beautiful, perfect day for Houstons NFL team. The morning after, reality returned. And we were reminded yet again that winning a single game is complicated for the Texans franchise in 2021.

Its been a long time since we felt that, David Culley said. Its tough to win in this league no matter who you play.

Culley, whos in his first year as an NFL head coach, keeps going out of his way to emphasize his cement-strong belief in the power of win now. In Nashville, Tenn., with the 2-8 Texans easily playing their best game of the season even though they recorded only 190 total yards of offense there was nothing wrong with Culleys all-in approach in Week 11.

Its just winning, just winning in this league, Culley said. Thats our job. Thats what we play for.

The Texans badly needed a victory, and they fought hard for what became their best win in two very long seasons. Considering how bad the 2020 offseason was and how frustrated fans are with the overall state of the franchise, the power of that single victory over the Titans will last all season.

The only downer?

The Texans enter Week 12 now tied with the Jaguars and Jets for the second-worst record in the league, and theres a decent chance the Texans will beat equally bad New York this Sunday.

The Texans also could win in Week 15 at Jacksonville. Seattle is falling apart Pete Carroll struggles to finish postgame press conferences now and the Seahawks are a backward 3-7. When the Texans host the Titans in Week 18 at NRG, playoff-bound Tennessee could be resting its starters.

You can see how this all gets messy and overly complicated, right?

Theres a path for the Texans to finish 5-12. Or 6-11 if things get really crazy and that gutsy, resilient road win in Nashville becomes contagious.

Normally in the NFL, going 5-12 without a franchise quarterback gets you fired.

Week 12 at home against a 2-8 Jets team would also normally be a perfect time for the Texans to place the ball back in the hands of rookie QB Davis Mills.

But Culley keeps saying things like this while coaching a roster that will continue to churn and veteran players who wont be playing for the Texans in 2022:

You always want the win, Culley said Monday. You get the win; the thing is to get the win. Thats all were thinking about right now.

Having the best shot possible at drafting the best college QB or a franchise-changing defender would be a much bigger win for a franchise that will spend 2021 paying its best player, Deshaun Watson, $10.5 million not to take a single snap.

The Texans have also consistently failed to explain what their franchise vision is for 2022 and beyond. On Monday, Culley hinted at a plan but went quiet when specific details were requested.

Well, the plan, its a big plan, Culley said. I cant give you all that information.

What does general manager Nick Caserio truly want? For the Texans to finish 5-12 this season with a second-half surge or for the team to end up with the No. 2 overall pick in next years draft?

What will be more meaningful in 2023, 24 and 25 for a fractured fanbase? The Texans winning a few extra games in 2021 or finally resetting their franchise with the 2022 draft?

If youre going to be bad, youre better off being horrible. Thats the golden rule in modern pro sports. Thats what the Astros did. Thats what the Rockets are doing.

The Texans finally impressed us by fighting for a tough win against the Titans. Then things got complicated again.

brian.smith@chron.com

twitter.com./chronbriansmith

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Smith: A reality check after Texans' win over Titans - Houston Chronicle