In the 24-year history of the Houston Texans football team, one could argue that no notable starting quarterback has truly "worked out" for the franchise. 

David Carr, the original Texans quarterback, lasted only five seasons at the position (2002-2006). Matt Schaub was the next most famous (2007-2013), teasing the city with ambitions of a Super Bowl run from 2011-2012.

Unfortunately, major injuries and a sudden collapse in quality of play cast a shadow on the remainder of his Texans tenure and ultimately led to missed opportunities at hoisting a Lombardi trophy.  

Five seasons later (2017), Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was drafted in the first-found by previous general manager Rick Smith with the vision of the former Tiger being the next franchise signal caller for at least a decade. 

At first, things looked incredibly promising. After a torn ACL ended his electric rookie season in 2017, from 2018-2019 he led the club to a 21-11 record, back-to-back AFC South championships and a trip to the AFC Divisional round. 

Alas, that all imploded just as fast as it began. For you see, after a 24-0 lead against the Kansas City Chiefs evaporated in the 2019 Divisional round, the Texans fell into one of the darkest phases in club history. 

Watson requested a trade two seasons later after controversy engulfed Houston's front office trajectory (hiring Nick Caserio as general Manager in 2021), with the transaction being consummated with the Cleveland Browns in 2022. 

Houston went a combined 11-38-1 from 2020-2022 along the way, landing in the bottom-five on the NFL rankings in all three seasons. 

However, the Texans then selected Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud with the second-pick in the 2023, which has now led to the most prosperous stretch of NFL football for the city of Houston since the Oiler years of times past. 

Since Stroud's arrival to NRG Stadium in 2023, the Texans have gone 32-19 with back-to-back AFC South titles, three-straight AFC playoff berths and the best shot at a Super bowl trip since Schaub's Texans of 2012 (He also won the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year award).

Head coach DeMeco Ryans and Stroud quickly formed one of the most lethal pairings in the sport, and looked every bit of an institution in Houston for multiple seasons to come. Stroud had his struggles in consistency post-2023, but it was more so chalked up to "growing pains" in a league that makes defensive adjustments to minimize repeated acts of offensive excellence. 

Sadly, this is where the warm fuzzies end for Stroud, as does fan confidence in Stroud's ability to lead the team to heights never seen before in team history. 

For you see, the Texans of 2025 ended the regular season 12-5 and in possession of the NFL's best overall defense. Hopes were high, as the AFC playoff landscape was missing the likes of elite quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and now Josh Allen. 

Standing in Houston's way would be a pathway of the lowly Pittsburgh Steelers, an unproven New England Patriots team and presumably, a Denver Broncos team without quarterback Bo Nix (ankle fracture).

Everything was lined up for the Texans to finally make their way to an AFC championship game, if not the Super Bowl, and all it would take was for Stroud to lead the offense efficiently and avoid major mistakes along the way. 

Simply put, he couldn't do it. Against the Steelers (AFC WIldcard), Stroud had an abysmal outing, fumbling the football five times (two lost) and throwing a goal line interception when his team needed him the most. It was arguably the worst game of his career, and that being in a "win or go home" situation for Houston.

Houston won 30-6 (due to elite defense), but questions about Stroud's trustworthiness dominated the news cycle for the week.

The thought was, "there was no way that he would play that poorly again, right?". 

Well, we were wrong. Very wrong.

In the very next game against the Patriots (AFC Divisional), Stroud built upon that outing with an even worse performance, throwing four interceptions before the first-half even ended (that made a combined seven turnovers across two playoff games for Stroud as an individual player).

Even though injuries to offensive weapons like wide receiver Nico Collins and tight end Dalton Schultz definitely hampered the offensive unit as a whole, Stroud was the biggest blight of the afternoon. He looked shell-shocked, a far cry from the poised and proficient passer from two seasons ago that Houston thought they were inheriting with their second overall pick. 

The result was a 28-16 loss against the Patriots on a snowy day in Foxborough. Crazy enough, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had a troubling outing himself, throwing for only 179 yards and one interception while taking five sacks.

The difference was his ability to respond under pressure and deliver three touchdown passes and complete the game with a 100.7 passer rating (Stroud had a 28.0). 

Now the Texans face yet another offseason full of questions about who's leading the offensive side of the ball. After Stroud appeared to finally be the answer, he turned into yet another problem for the Houston front office to have to solve. 

What makes matters worse is knowing that Stroud is now on his second offensive coordinator, along with having a new offensive line, a litany of new receivers and the best defense the Texans have ever fielded. 

Though there's really no immediate answer at quarterback for Houston, the sting of the biggest Super Bowl miss in franchise history will certainly create an urgency to try and find one. Whether it's Stroud or not, it remains to be seen. 

Sad, but nothing Houston isn't used to by now.