Just when you thought things in Houston couldn't get much stranger...they do.
After a bizarre search played out, the Texans decided to promote defensive coordinator Lovie Smith to the head coaching post. Lovie has previous stops as a NFL head coach with the Bears and Bucs, and was let go just over a year ago after a handful of seasons trying to rebuild Illinois.
While a bit unconventional to keep a staff largely together and make a change at head coach after one season by promoting a coordinator, Lovie does brings a veteran presence to the franchise that had been considering making Josh McCown (who, while an NFL vet at quarterback, had no coaching experience at all to speak of) their head coach.
Now, Ian Rapoport shares that the Texans are unlikely to hire a defensive coordinator for the upcoming season and that Lovie will continue to call the defense.
According to Rapoport (via PFT), "the plan for now is to go without a coordinator."
The Texans ranked second to last in the league in yards allowed and finished 27th out of 32 teams in points allowed.
The Texans could hire someone very familiar with Lovie's system to take some of the responsibility of calling the defense, but apparently seem to be preparing to only ceremoniously hand the title to someone now and have Lovie juggle head coach and defensive play calling responsibilities.
If anyone knows the demands in the NFL of both those roles, it's Lovie, so maybe it ends up working out great. But for now, this just seems to be another bizarre decision from the Texans organization.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.