Kubiak has earned a mulligan in the eyes of McNair. I can't see him getting canned unless we win 4 or fewer games. And even then, it's iffy.
I don't think there are any quick fixes or band-aids like Wade was in 2011 if the bottom truly falls out. The offense may be somewhat salvageable with better QB play... but as I've said here before, I'm not confident the defense will get "better" as the season goes on, especially now without Cushing. They will need at least a new defensive scheme/coordinator, along with more talent/better play at the LB position to have anywhere close to the defense they had in 2011.
I honestly don't see any scenario where Kubiaks is fired. They could lose every game for the rest of the season and he would still be here next year
I don't think Wade needs replaced but I do agree about LB upgrades. Put an outside pass rusher like Suggs, or Ware on this team and the D will get better.
My guess is it depends on how well Keenum does and not so much the W-L record. From comments, it seems like McNair really wants Keenum to be the long term starter. If Kubiak can help him become a better QB, it's probably enough to save his job. Any other issues with the team he probably falls back on the injuries excuse.
This is the biggest problem I have with the organization. They wait too effing long to make changes. Things have to fail over and over before anything gets done. Has to fail historically
If Kubes isn't let go, do you think Rick Smith becomes the sacrificial lamb and gets axed? We know where the holes are on this team. Where we lack depth. We pleaded for years for a #2 receiver before we actually tried to get one. We all knew we needed a better ILB to pair with Cushing, someone who could hopefully step in if Cushing got hurt again. Texans didn't draft anybody, they simply swapped Bradie James for Joe Maybe. Whoopee. We've been unable to rebuild the OLine after letting Briesel and Winston go. If Uncle Bob is going to use the "injuries" excuse to save Kubes' job and if our depth is so bad that injuries have even more of an added impact, doesn't that fall at Smith's feet?
I don't think one goes without the other but both should go. (Well I guess I should say, I could see Kubiak going(not happening) and McNair keeping Smith.)
The only way Kubiak is back next season is if Keenum shows promise under his system. With the schedule getting easier I see the Texans finishing off the season at 8-8. There will be some optimism at the end of the season with Keenum so he'll end up saving Kubiak's job for another year.
Yep If you think Old Man mieser Bob is going to pay off the extra yr that he owes Kubiak and spend money to bring in a top tier HC, then I want what the rest of the Aggies have been smoking all of these yrs. Lets face facts, as long as Kubiak is HC, the Aggies will fill Reliant and that's all that the Old Man really cares about. He has no commitment to anything but the almighty dollar. That's how people like Bob get where they are in life. Money is the most important thing to them and making/swindling it makes them the most happiest.
I couldn't... mainly because I don't think Rick Smith makes a single decision without Kubiak's involvement. Kubiak IS the defacto GM. Smith is the figure-head. Kubiak is more like Belicheck was in Cleveland and is now... even if there's another person with the GM "title", he has the most say. If they're going for a new regime, I'd rather they have a GM who has his own visions about how a team should be constructed, rather than do whatever the coach wants.
I think Wade is probably done coaching pretty soon, regardless of whether or not his defense performs up to snuff. Again, a defense that regresses yearly as his have so far need to make enough adjustments before the bottom falls out... I don't see that. They've invested first round and second round pick money on their current OLB. They're clearly not getting the job done thus far, and I don't think a re-tread veteran is the answer either (more like a stop-gap, like a Daniel Manning or Jonathan Joseph was). A new DC (or HC with DC experience) would likely want to either bring in his own scheme, or use valuable picks to upgrade the LB core... but of course, this team needs to upgrade the O-line, D-line, and secondary as well.
Where does this narrative come from that Bob McNair won't fire anyone? He fired Capers at the first logical opportunity. He only had one logical opportunity to fire Kubiak, and he didn't - and the team made the playoffs the next 2 years. I don't think he has any kind of track record one way or another at this point.
A lot of it has to do with the fact that McNair has said publicly that he didn't want to fire Capers. He just couldn't justify keeping him to the fans after we went 2-14. McNair has always been big on continuity. He views change as taking a step back and he'd rather bet that this year is an outlier and Kubes will get us back to the playoffs next year than chancing that a new coach would do the same. Never mind that recent history is full of teams that have succeeded quickly under new coaches, quite a few who make the Super Bowl within 2 years. We were thought of as Super Bowl contenders this year, and Bob probably still believes we have the talent to win it all. But instead of seeing that as Kubes underperforming with SB level talent, he looks at as us being close. And he see change as doing more harm than good when we're so "close". That was part of his state rationale for keeping Kubiak in 2010. I doubt it's changed. I don't think McNair wants to fire Kubiak. If he thinks he can justify keeping him around, he's probably going to do it. Unless we're truly awful, I don't think he's going to can Kubiak for one bad year after 2 playoff appearances.
People need to realize that every decision Mcnair makes is money driven, if he thinks he can keep your ass in the seat while keeping Kubiak, then he will.
I think the Keenum move probably demonstrates there was a little heat on Kubiak. Moving Schaub *and* jumping Yates isn't something that's very Kubiak-like.
Nothing less than a SB victory (hahaha) should keep Kubiak from getting fired, not even making the conference finals. As much as I suspect players are glad Schaub is out, I think they'll be even happier when Kubiak is replaced.
I think the other consideration, aside from how Keenum plays, is whether the team quits on Kubiak. They never have. They lost a lot of games in 2010 - but that team never quit. If they had, it probably would have led to Kubiak's dismissal. I know a lot of people hate this component - but I think it has some validity. The players very obviously really like playing for Kubiak - that means they buy into his system and believe in what he’s coaching: that's not insignificant. I think the Keenum move was done in large part because Kubiak either knew or could sense he was, for the first time, losing his team. They had lost confidence in Schaub, and trotting him back out there probably would have sealed Kubiak's fate. I’ll be shocked if he’s not back. Hopefully, with a caveat that he must hire a legitimate, non-pipeline offensive coordinator. I would like to see – especially if Keenum proves to be more chameleon than Schaub – some diverse thought, offensively.
This makes the assumption that the Texans can't find a coach that players can respect. If so, then it means the Texans are incompetent in the front office. This is setting the bar so low as "Well, we can't fire Kubiak because we may get Greg Schiano in our next hire. We don't really know how to hire a coach so it's better to go with a mediocre one you know than to roll the dice." The acceptance of mediocrity in order to avoid the chance of utter failure is a sign of a horrible organization.
