Houston 28, Detroit 21: Implementing the 'Texans Bailout Plan'

The Houston Texans started the season playing the Steelers, Titans, and Jaguars. On the road. With a hurricane-imposed bye in the middle that took out power for weeks and damaged some players' homes. Even without the hurricane, I said before the season that the Texans' biggest test for a young team was to come out of this brutal series of games with their confidence and health intact.

The Texans are remarkably healthy right now, but they are not yet playing with confidence -- at least for 60 minutes. For the fourth week in a row, a Texans game was in doubt until the end of the fourth quarter.

The Detroit Lions were desperate for their first win, and now ask themselves this question: If they can't beat the Texans, is it possible they will go 0-16 this year? Each of their future opponents have won at least 3 games this year.

As with many of the Lions' slow starts this year, the opposing offense dominated, with the Texans scoring touchdowns the first three times they touched the ball. The score was 21-3 at the half, but in the second half, the Texans offense wasn't nearly as effective, and the defense gave up big plays, letting the Lions back into the game.

It's yet another illustration of why Texans defensive coordinator Richard Smith needs to be shown the door. The Texans offense and special teams have been playing very well, especially in recent weeks. The Texans defense this week once again gives up huge bonehead plays that reflect poorly on how they are coached.

Giving up huge pass plays to an inexperienced quarterback and good receivers probably doesn't give the Texans much comfort playing another winless team next week in the Bengals. The Texans have never won three games in a row.

As for Detroit, the team reminds me of the 2005 Houston Texans. Front office chaos. Bad offense with one physically gifted, young receiver. Little use of this thing they call the tight end. Bad defense. Decent special teams. Planning next year's draft picks. The 2005 Texans won 2 games and ended up drafting DE Mario Williams. Hopefully, the Fords will be able to find someone that has some good sense to guide your team in the future.

Though the Houston Texans had only one win coming into the game against Detroit, according to Football Outsiders they had played the second-hardest schedule in the league. Yes, the Texans need a bit of bailout. Yeah, you need to beat the best to be the best, but it's hard for a young team to get their feat under them with so many tough games on the road.