This is on O'Brien now. It's his offense, and now it's been 2.5 years of suck. Osweiler seems to have regressed since the start of the season. I'd love to see Savage at this point, but I recall O'Brien regretted moving away from Hoyer early last season, so I doubt he makes a change unless due to injury. It is his job on the line now, so maybe that spurs action during the bye if the offense struggles at home against the Lions.
As Bob mentioned earlier in this thread, losing on the road to the Patriots, Vikings, and Broncos - some of the best defenses in the league at some of the toughest places for any visitor to play - is understandable. The Texans have basically won the ones they should have and lost the ones most reasonable observers would have expected them to lose. And most teams would suffer tragically if they lost their MVP as the Texans have with J.J. Watt. It's just how anemic the team has performed that is frustrating.
The bottom line is that, like last year, the Texans will win a terrible division and make the playoffs, likely with a home game against a wild card. So if Osweiler is still O'Brien's answer, then whatever he does with him between now and January - bench him, play him - has to be done with an eye toward winning that first playoff game. If these next 9 games help O'Brien develop Osweiler for the playoffs, then there's your reason why he would leave him as the starter.
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