What I've learned in my four years living in Houston is that this city is used to sports heartbreak.
It's also been an incredibly tolerant city when it comes to the most recent iteration of the NFL -- the Texans had a wait list for season tickets even after a 2-14 season in 2013. For the Texans' entire existence, they've only ever come close to being a real contender. They've had four winning seasons ever, the best when they went 12-4 in 2012, only to be crushed by the New England Patriots twice -- once in the regular season and once in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Bill O'Brien's debut season in which he went 9-7 prompted optimism from fans who were pleasantly surprised by the seven-game turnaround. They never expected to hit a franchise low -- down 42-0 after three quarters.
Anger is brewing in Houston.
That anger was best encapsulated by Sean Pendergast, who hosts the Texans post-game show on Sports Radio 610 in Houston and writes columns for the Houston Press, a local magazine and website. It was an impassioned monologue and you can read the whole thing here.
Some excerpts:
"Bill O’Brien said his goal during Hard Knocks was for this team to stop being the almost team. We almost made the play. We almost made the tackle. By the way I’m not saying anything that Bill O’Brien didn’t just say at the podium right now. Bill O’Brien said he did a bad job of coaching. They’re not the almost team anymore. They were the ‘not even close team’ today."
"Ryan Mallett has one speed. Ryan Mallett throws the ball like he’s trying to impress girls at the beach. He’s got a 95 mile an hour fastball and that’s it. And a lot of times it was skipping to guy’s feet at the game today."
"...while on the schedule it looks like they lost a couple of real heartbreaker close games at the beginning of the year by 7 points. This team has scored 10 touchdowns this year, which is a problem unto itself, six of those touchdowns have come in the 4th quarter while their down by double digits. These are empty stats."
"How is it that you have NFL players and none of them can get open? Not a single one can get open. Are the Texans the only team in the NFL that have two defensive backs on every receiver? Is the other team playing with 16 guys? I need to know. They’re bad on offense."
"They’re bad on defense. Kyle Shanahan was playing chess out there today and Romeo Crennel was playing Candyland."
"(There are) foundation problems with this team that tell me that this stuff is not getting solved anytime soon. And I’ll tell you what they are right now…It’s these names: DeVier Posey, Keshawn Martin, DJ Swearinger, Brandon Williams, Sam Montgomery, Trevardo Williams, Xavier Su’a-Filo, CJ Fiedorowicz, Louis Nix, Tom Savage. Those are players who were drafted from the 2nd through 4th round in the years 2012 through 2014. The only one that gets on the field for this team anymore if CJ Fiedorowicz."
"You are the fans. You spend a lot of money on this team. You sell this place out. And that was an embarrassment today. That was pathetic today."