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The Texans fired head coach David Culley on Thursday after one year on the job and a common response was that Culley should have had more time on the job given how little chance the Texans had to win with their 2021 roster.

Culley went 4-13, which matched the number of wins that the Texans managed with quarterback Deshaun Watson in the lineup the previous season, and the Texans pointed to
“philosophical differences over the long-term direction” of the franchise as the reason for the move. Culley made no mention of such issues in his first comments after the firing.

“I’m disappointed, but it’s part of the business,” Culley said, via Aaron Wilson of SportsTalk 790. “I understand and I move on. . . . I enjoyed every minute of it. Learned a lot, a lot of things in that coaching manual I had to go through that weren’t in there, but that’s okay. Always something new happening that was a learning experience for me, but for the most part I just kind of used all the experience that I’ve got working with all the different head coaches, all the situations they’ve been through. You’re judged every year. Basically, you’re judged on wins and losses, and if you judge it on wins and losses I’m not happy with four wins at all. I expected to get more than four wins and felt like we should have got more than four wins. This is a bottom-line business, and I wasn’t happy with the number of wins we got.”

The Texans have not started interviews with candidates to replace Culley yet. When they do, their list is expected to include coaches with ties to General Manager Nick Caserio from his time with the Patriots.