Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones infamously stated after his team won their second straight Super Bowl that any one of 500 coaches could have produced championship success with his team, downplaying the effect coach Jimmy Johnson had with procuring those Lombardi Trophies.
Jones actually proved to be right. Two seasons after parting ways with Johnson, former Oklahoma Sooners football coach Barry Switzer led Dallas to a win in Super Bowl XXX, their last championship to date.
The Houston Texans in the Super Bowl is a dream only Houston sports fans can realize in franchise mode on Madden, but it is a reality chairman and CEO Cal McNair has taken over since his father’s passing in November of 2018.
McNair is soon going to have to make a tough decision at the end of either the 2020 season or the year thereafter: does the franchise keep Bill O’Brien or do we keep Deshaun Watson?
The fact is Watson has been posting passive aggressive lyrics on Twitter that indicate he is displeased with the direction of the franchise, especially since the trading of three-time All-Pro wideout DeAndre Hopkins. After all, he had a fairly positive outlook the front office would add talent in free agency, not diminish it.
And make no mistake that Watson is aware of the chatter on the internet and social media that Las Vegas has him as the odds-on favorite to be the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback in 2021. A cursory Google search of the term “Deshaun Watson Patriots” gathers over four million results alone.
There is an old adage that “winning cures all.” If the O’Brien way leads to Houston making its first conference title game appearance in club history, or even going further in the postseason, the offseason grievances will be immaterial.
However, if the Texans fail to even repeat as AFC South champions, if Watson is getting beat down because he feels he has to do it all because he lacks a No. 1 receiver, the whispering in the back of Watson’s mind could crest into roar that maybe he needs a change of scenery.
In 2021, Watson’s salary will be fully guaranteed and will take up a goodly portion of the salary cap. However, the Texans don’t have to be on the hook for it if they get rid of Watson before the start of 2021 free agency.
Don’t put it past general manager O’Brien or executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby to shop Watson, or convince McNair that for the good of the team they need a change of direction at quarterback. They traded Jadeveon Clowney, and they traded Hopkins, who was one of the franchise’s most recognizable faces league-wide.
By the way, O’Brien can convincingly make the case trading Watson won’t cripple the team, just set them back one season at most. Love him or loathe him, O’Brien has won two division titles with virtually no quarterback in 2015-16. He can win without a quarterback again if he has to. Plus, imagine the haul of draft picks Houston could get by trading Watson.
God forbid it ever gets to this point, but if it does, McNair has to choose Watson over O’Brien.
Jones’ comments about any one of 500 coaches winning with the ’90s Cowboys wasn’t wrong, not even in a general football sense. A franchise quarterback is much harder to procure than a coach or general manager.
Joe Montana didn’t win all four of his Super Bowls with Bill Walsh on the sidelines; George Seifert was the San Francisco 49ers’ boss in 1989.
John Elway led the Denver Broncos to multiple Super Bowl appearances with two different coaches: Dan Reeves in the 1980s and Mike Shanahan in the 1990s.
The Indianapolis Colts went to two different Super Bowls (XLI and XLIV), but with the same quarterback (Peyton Manning) and two separate coaches (Tony Dungy and Jim Caldwell).
Speaking of Manning, the same scenario played out in Denver with John Fox coaching in Super Bowl XLVIII and Gary Kubiak coaching in Super Bowl 50.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won two Super Bowls with two different coaches, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.
Teams spend so many years and resources trying to land a franchise quarterback. It isn’t as easy as calling 1-800-Quarterback. Ask the Chicago Bears how successful they have been.
If the quarterback is great enough, you keep the quarterback. Watson has proven in his three seasons with the Texans that he is a capable enough field general to keep Houston competitive.
Before Watson, and the 2017 season and Week 17 of 2019 will be excluded to be fair to both sides, O’Brien had 12 games he lost by two scores or more.
Since 2018, the Texans have lost a grand total of three games (2018 wild-card, Week 11 of 2019, Week 14 of 2019) by two scores or more.
The Texans are never out of it with Watson under center. Things have to go according to plan for O’Brien’s teams to get a win.
“I was encouraged by the progress that our team made on the field this year which was due in part to our new structure, operating approach and the leaders within our football operations group,” McNair said in a statement on Jan. 28 after the announcement of O’Brien and Easterby’s promotions. “I am proud that we provided our fans with many thrilling victories at home, including a playoff win, and we delivered another double-digit win season.
“Our fans deserve that, but now it is time for the organization to get back to work toward our pursuit of a world championship for the city of Houston.”
If the Texans don’t make any progress towards that world championship in 2020, McNair will have to evaluate whether the status quo is trending towards that outcome. If O’Brien and Easterby are advocating the loss of Watson, or if Watson is at risk of leaving the organization, McNair has to choose the franchise quarterback.
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