In the 25 NFL seasons of Houston Texans football, depending on the season, you can find almost any perception of the team a month into a given year. The Texans have run the gamut of perception early in seasons, from perceived Super Bowl contenders (2012, perhaps 2024) to dregs of the league (every 0-4 start before this season, which we will discuss shortly).
When the team is cooking and doing well, the tendency among media and fans is to, understandably, remain in the moment. Why wouldn’t you? Contention is bliss! When the team is circling the drain, and providing a pandemic of misery, the tendency among media and fans is to either (a) try to dissect the season by looking at past history, and lessons to be learned, or (b) divorce yourself of football and take jump a new hobby of some sort.
Well, since I promise I will never write an article about fishing or basketball weaving, I am left to deploy the former strategy, and take a look at previous 0-4 starts for the Texans, and try to discern where this is all going. Here we go:
**2005 HOUSTON TEXANS**
**W-L START: 0-6**
**W-L FINISH: 2-14**
**2005 MITIGATING FACTORS:**
The Texans were coming off a 7-9 season in 2004, and looked ready to take the leap to becoming a playoff team, and unfortunately, the bottom caved in. It turns out the offensive line was nearly as big an issue as it was in David Carr’s rookie season, allowing 60 sacks. The team’s offensive coordinator, Chris Palmer, was fired after two games. Injuries were also an issue, with the team’s top two playmakers, Andre Johnson and Dominick Williams, missing multiple games. There were no real mitigating factors thrust upon them from outside the building. This was just a team that was not very good.
**2005 HOW IT ENDED:**
As tends to happen when a team wins just two games, the coaching staff got wiped out after the season. General manager Charley Casserly resigned, and was gone by the summer of 2006. The Texans’ fan base spent the entire offseason, leading up to the draft, by clamoring for the team to draft Vince Young. Gary Kubiak was hired as the head coach, and six seasons later, the team would finally make the postseason.
**2008 HOUSTON TEXANS**
**W-L START: 0-4**
**W-L FINISH: 8-8**
**2008 MITIGATING FACTORS:** It was a bit of a slow burn to finally get to the postseason under Kubiak, and 2008 was a fascinating speed bump in that trip., After finally attaining a .500 record for the first time in franchise history in 2007, at 8-8, the hope, like in 2005, was that the team would take a leap in Year 3 of Kubiak and Year 2 of Matt Schaub at quarterback. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ike dropped in after a Week 1 loss to the Jets, the Texans bye week was moved up to Week 2, and the Texans wound up playing their first three games on the road. The fourth game of the season was the catastrophic “Rosencopter” collapse against the Colts at home. The team received some grace, because of Ike, but 0-4 still counts, storm or no storm.
**2008 HOW IT ENDED:** Overall, it ended in the same spot as 2007 ended, with an 8-8 record. The team really earned this one, though, going 5-1 down the stretch, after a 3-7 start. The Texans would go on to crack the .500 mark, and miss the playoffs, at 9-7, in 2009.
**2020 HOUSTON TEXANS**
**W-L START: 0-4**
**W-L FINISH: 4-12**
**2020 MITIGATING FACTORS:** The Texans went into the 2020 season with some very strange vibes. For one, it was the COVID season, so training camp, which was limited to about a dozen media members covering it, was just bizarre, with COVID tests mandated for players and media every day. That’s something all teams had to deal with, though. Specific to the Texans, the team was playing its second full season with Bill O’Brien and Jack EAsterby running things (or RUINING things, as it were). Most notably, they decided to trade DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals for a ham sandwich. I get angry just typing about this.
**2020 HOW IT ENDED:** The Texans lost their first four games, and O’Brien was fired the day after the fourth loss. Romeo Crennel took over as the interim head coach, Easterby was named interim GM, and the Texans were on their way into a three year abyss that included David Culley and Lovie Smith as head coaches, and Deshaun Watson getting sued by 20-plus women for sexual misconduct. What a fever dream that era was.
**So, four games in, how does 2026 end up?**
Hopefully, the summaries of those previous 0-4 starts make you feel better about this 0-4 start. This is undeniably a more talented Texans roster than those of the previous 0-4 starts. The road back starts this weekend in Nashville. Lose to the Titans, and we are officially into the abyss. If I casually skim and go game by game, I’m going with 8-9 as the final record, which would put the Texans in an interesting “no man’s land” with respect to extending C.J. Stroud and making some difficult decisions on who stays and who goes among the coaching staff and front office.