The Houston Texans entered the NFL in 2002 and, like every team in the league, have put together their fair share of bad seasons. When it comes to the Texans' worst single-season record, that would be 2-14, which they've done on two separate occasions.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/30443693/20131222_pjc_at5_044.0.jpg)
The first time the Texans went 2-14 was in 2005, which was their fourth year in the league. The second, and hopefully last, time that Houston hit the 2-14 mark was in 2013, which ended up being Gary Kubiak's final year with the team.
So, which of those two seasons wins out as the worst in Texans history? There would be arguments for both, of course, as winning two games in a single season is obviously terrible. That being said, ultimately, 2013 edges out 2005 as the worst season in Houston Texans history.
Why 2013 is the worst season in Houston Texans history
Well, first and foremost, the 2005 Texans weren't expected to be much of anything considering how new they were to the league. The 2013 Texans can't say the same thing. Houston was coming off back-to-back AFC South titles when the 2013 season rolled around and the expectations were that they would continue to be a force in the division (and in th conference as well). They had gone 12-4 in 2012 and looked to be heading for an even brighter future the following year but that's not how things went down.
The worst part of the 2013 season is that we saw how good the team could be in the first two weeks of the season, as the Texans started the year 2-0 with wins over the Chargers and Titans. That Week 2 win was the final win of the year for Houston, as they finished the season with 14 straight losses, handing them their worst season since 2005 and forcing the team to relieve Gary Kubiak of his head coaching duties. Nine of those 14 losses were one-score games too.
A big part of the Texans' drop-off in 2013 was that Matt Schaub, who was coming off a Pro Bowl year in 2012, declined mightily. He threw a pick-six in four consecutive games and finished the year with 14 interceptions to just 10 touchdowns in 10 games. It's hard to win games when the quarterback isn't pulling his weight and that was the case for the Texans in 2013.
The Texans finished the year as the worst team in the league, giving them the number one pick in the 2014 NFL Draft where they took South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney, who was a good but not great player during his time in Houston. I'd hear arguments for why 2005 was the worse season but considering the expectations the Texans had following their 12-4 season in 2012, it felt like 2013 was the right choice here.
