In 1997, Houston’s many football fans were suddenly left without a hometown team to cheer on for the first time since 1959. Their previous team, the Oilers, were taken by team owner Bud Adams to their new location in Tennessee (where they were renamed the Titans), and Houston fans faced the gloomy prospect of being without professional football for many years into the future. After all, the National Football League gave every indication clear that there were no expansion plans in the offing. Soon thereafter, however, the fateful decision was made to return pro football to the city of Cleveland, which would then be the thirty-first franchise in the NFL. The League’s preference for an even number of teams presented Houston with the opportunity to pursue a new franchise, which they subsequently won.

In the beginning

From the moment the new Houston franchise joined the NFL, it was clear that it would take some time to build a quality team. In fact, from 2002 until 2006, the team suffered through one losing season after another. Having bet the farm by using their first round draft pick to select quarterback David Carr, the Texans had little choice but to rally around him in those early years. As sometimes happens, Carr’s selection turned out to be a critical mistake, but one that the young team moved to correct during the 2007 offseason when they acquired Matt Schaub from the Atlanta Falcons. After the announcement in March that Schaub would be the team’s starter during the upcoming season, Carr was allowed to pursue other team options.

Matt Schaub’s first two seasons

The 2007 campaign got under way with the Texans winning their first two games of the season before the injury bug attacked the team with a vengeance. Schaub was out for a total of five complete games, and missed a good part of two more. Other team injuries mounted as well, and the Texans finished the season with a middle of the road record of eight wins and eight losses. Still, it was not a losing season, so fans had some reason to hope for improvement the following year.

2008 saw the Texans open with two losses. Due to Hurricane damage, they also had to play three of their early home games away from home. They did manage a four game victory run in the middle of the season, and scored important victories throughout the season that enabled them to recover from the slow start and finish with an identical record to the 2007 season. Schaub had apparently stabilized the team and they could now focus on compiling a winning season.

Finding success

After the first eight games of the 2009 season, the Texans were 5-3. They remained competitive in the four losses that followed, and then won the last four of their matchups to complete their first winning season in franchise history at 9-7. They narrowly missed an appearance in the playoffs, but managed to elevate expectations for the 2010 campaign. In doing so, they have declared to their competition that they are now a team that can no longer be taken for granted.

Freddie Brister begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting is a huge fan of all sports and recommends checking out his Houston Texans Watch and Houston Astros watch at his shop.

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