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The No. 1 overall draft pick is a just reward for being the worst team in football.
The Texans don’t want it.
Only three games remain this season, and Lovie Smith would like to see his team win them all.
What is best? Winning games or securing the No. 1 pick?
I joke about tanking teams all the time, but even teams like the Texans, who have just one win to go with 12 losses and a tie, are better off showing pride in their work and fighting to the end of the season.
What the Texans displayed in consecutive come-from-ahead losses to Dallas and Kansas City is that they are trying to win.
Three division foes are on the schedule, with the Texans traveling to Tennessee this weekend, hosting Jacksonville on New Year’s Day, then closing out the season at Indianapolis.
“We have an opportunity to finish the division with a winning record,” Smith said. “We are 1-1-1 in the division right now, so you look for things to really play for. I know the guys are going to show up and be ready to go.
“As you look for things, the other guys are going to show up, but what can we really aim for? To finish up with a winning record in our division. That’s what it’s down to for us right now. That is what is getting us motivated.”
A winning record in the AFC South isn’t exactly a “Win one for the Gipper” rallying cry, but when you’re looking for things to play for, you must come up with something.
General manager Nick Caserio talks a lot about culture. This is the time of year that a franchise can show whether it has a winning culture.
Like the Texans this year, the Lions got off to a terrible start last season, but finished strong with three wins in their last six games, including a victory over Green Bay in the season finale. That win cost the Lions the No. 1 overall draft pick.
There is no such thing as momentum from year to year, but what the Lions did in the latter part of 2021 made a difference.
The Lions have had just five winning seasons in the past 25 years, so we don’t often tip our cap in their direction.
But Detroit has won six of its past seven games and is in the NFC playoff hunt with a 7-7 record, with five of its seven losses coming by four points or less. This is a team that finished with a worse record than the Texans a year ago.
The organization stressed to its players that winning is important.
You can see from the Texans’ effort the past two weeks that they haven’t lost hope, either.
This is what Smith will continue to preach to the Texans, no matter what happens on the field.
As desperate as the Texans will be to find a quarterback this offseason, the top pick would give them a shot at the best player. The 3-11 Bears, who are the closest team to the Texans in the standings, aren’t going to draft a quarterback. Current No. 3 Seattle will be in the market for a QB.
But all of that is for after the season. There is football left to be played and the Texans actually looked good the last couple weeks, in holding fourth-quarter leads over two playoff-bound teams.
“We judge how we play each week, the score really tells us how,” Smith said. “I think it’s a lot bigger than that.
“I think everybody is watching us play, saying we are getting better right now. The progress says we’re getting better. I think we’re making progress and getting better in all areas. I think that’s where we are, which gives us a chance to win now, which we’re excited about that.”
The Texans can learn something from how the Lions went from the bottom of the league to the middle in less than a year.
The Lions were averaging less than 17 points a game last season when head coach Dan Campbell pulled play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. Detroit averaged 25 points a game down the stretch.
Had the Texans followed that playbook, they might have a couple more victories. Lynn was fired at the end of the season. This year, with Ben Johnson as offensive coordinator, the Lions are tied for fifth in the NFL in scoring (26.4 points per game).
People have had fun taking shots at Campbell, who played tight end at Texas A&M, but he has the Lions looking good.
The Texans haven’t been good or lucky.
Based on points scored and allowed, Pro Football Reference calculates that they should be a four-win team right now.
With a little luck, competent quarterback play, progress from young players, and the addition of key free agents and draft picks, perhaps the Texans could do what the Lions did.
In a way, good things for next year could start now.
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