INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Houston coach Lovie Smith and Indianapolis interim coach Jeff Saturday may have called their final shots Sunday.
As the two closed out dismal seasons with a wild and intriguing fourth quarter in the Texans’ 32-31 victory, it didn’t take long for questions about the future directions of these teams to pop up — and whether they would include Smith or Saturday.
“I meet with Cal (McNair) every Monday. We talk about what’s happening the last game,” Smith said when asked about whether he thinks the Texans’ chairman and CEO will bring him back. “We understand the totality of the season. Do I expect to be back? Yeah, I expect to be back, absolutely.”
Smith’s comment came amid reports he could soon be out of a job following another lackluster season.
If so, it would mark the second consecutive year Houston (3-13-1) pulled the plug on a first-year coach. David Culley was fired last year after going 4-13 and Smith is the fourth coach the Texans have had since the start of the 2021 season, joining Bill O’Brien, Romeo Crennel and Culley.
But after winning two of their last three to give the No. 1 overall draft pick to the Chicago Bears, falling to No. 2, the most immediate question focuses on the 64-year-old coach who has been in charge of three NFL teams and led Chicago to an NFC title following the 2006 season. He presided over the first winless home season since the Texans entered the NFL in 2002.
“We understand what our win total is and that’s not enough,” Smith said.
In Indianapolis, the questions are not about whether they’ll make a move.
Team owner Jim Irsay already tipped his hand when he fired the widely respected Frank Reich on Nov. 7 following three straight losses and a 3-5-1 start. Irsay hired Saturday — who made the unusual midseason switch from ESPN studio analyst to take over a team he hadn’t even been around.
Irsay has said he will consider Saturday in the hiring process even though the results were not noticeably different. Saturday won his coaching debut at Las Vegas then lost the final seven, four of them coming after blowing late leads including an embarrassing and historic collapse at Minnesota when the Vikings rallied from a 33-0 halftime deficit to win 39-36 in overtime.
Sunday’s finish, a 28-yard touchdown pass from Davis Mills to Jordan Akins with 50 seconds left and a subsequent 2-point conversion by the same combination, was equally difficult to stomach.
“Really kind of the story of our season, right, is that we play, give ourselves a shot, and unfortunately at the end we didn’t close it out,” Saturday said.
But Irsay also has promised to conduct a full coaching search that complies with the league’s Rooney Rule, mandating interviews for minority candidates, something he didn’t do and wasn’t required to do with a midseason change.
Saturday has repeatedly said he’d like to return to the team he played most of his career with, though he’s also acknowledged it’s been a different kind of challenge being in charge.
“I can assure you, losing as a coach is much more painful than losing as a player, just because you’re involved with all three phases,” Saturday said. “So it seems like you always go home with some kind of difficulty to get through with that part of the staff.”
And now Saturday and Smith will head home, anxiously awaiting their fates.
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