The Houston Texans' firing of head coach Bill O'Brien on Monday caught Texans players by surprise. Many were at home, having already finished up their film review when they received a text about a just-scheduled team Zoom meeting. A minute later, ESPN's Adam Schefter and Dan Graziano broke the news of O'Brien's firing broke on Twitter. Texans teammates then jumped on the brief Zoom meeting, where O'Brien said his goodbyes and thank yous.
The writing was on the wall after a brutal 0-4 start, including Sunday's loss to the then-winless Vikings, but players still didn't expect it to happen so soon, just a quarter of the way through the season.