Texans refuse to clean house, blame Lovie Smith for Nick Caserio’s mess

The Texans fired Lovie Smith while making it clear that GM Nick Caserio, who has hired two head coaches who didn’t make it a year, isn’t going anywhere.

The way the Houston Texans are running their franchise, they don’t deserve the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. So it’s fitting that the head coach they decided to make a scapegoat on Sunday night made sure they didn’t get it.

Lovie Smith was fired after notching a win over the Colts in the season finale. He got just one season in Houston before they axed him with a 3-13-1 record.

The man who hired him, the same man who hired the last coach fired after just one season, seems to have avoided the same fate.

Texans fire Lovie Smith while letting Nick Caserio get away with hiring failures

The Texans made Smith’s firing official with a statement from chair and CEO Cal McNair that clearly backed GM Nick Caserio:

“Nick Caserio and I spoke with Lovie Smith tonight and informed him that we will be moving in a different direction as an organization. I appreciate Coach Smith and his entire family for their contributions over the two seasons. We are grateful for his leadership and character, and we wish him the best moving forward. While we understand the results have not been what we had hoped for, we are committed to building a program that produces long-term, sustainable success. Our fans and city deserve a team that they can be proud of. I will work alongside Nick Caserio throughout this process and I’m confident we will find the right leader of our football team.”

Caserio has hired two head coaches while GM of the Texans. He’s fired both of them after just one season. So why on earth is he getting the chance to make a third hire?

NFL Twitter had questions for Houston after that one.

Nick Caserio has hired two head coaches. Both have been fired after one year. Caserio getting a third hire in his first 3 years as GM would be unprecedented in NFL history.

— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) January 9, 2023

The Texans did David Culley dirty by setting him up to fail & giving him one year then turned around & did Lovie Smith dirty by setting him up to fail & giving him one year. It ain’t fair. Houston doesn’t care. Cranking out more one & dones than Kentucky.

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) January 9, 2023

Lovie Smith has been fired in Chicago after going 10-6; in Tampa Bay after tripling his win total from the previous season; and in Houston after one season — winning two of his last three games with a terrible roster. https://t.co/cSBxNCUwQX

— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) January 9, 2023

What are the Texans doing. What kind of operation is this where you don’t have any convictions about supporting the coaches you hire. Who is going to want to coach there if you might only get one year to implement your plans. Two years in a row is ridiculous. https://t.co/Lrn6jyVs7P

— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) January 9, 2023

Was Smith the problem? His team certainly struggled to find ways to win. They tied the Colts in Week 1 and beat the Jaguars in Week 5. They lost every other game in the first 15 weeks of the season.

However, they also showed remarkable fight for a team with so few weapons on either side of the ball. In the last month of the season, they pushed the Cowboys in a four-point loss. They took the Chiefs to overtime the next week and beat a Titans team still fighting for the AFC South title. Six of their defeats were by one possession.