First NFL coach fired odds winner: Texans' Bill O'Brien; could Houston pursue Dabo Swinney?

SportsLine oddsmakers were waiting for the Atlanta Falcons' result in the Monday night game in Green Bay to post new first NFL coach fired odds because Atlanta's Dan Quinn was the +150 betting favorite entering Week 4. Houston's Bill O'Brien was a +600 fourth-favorite but was going to move up after his now 0-4 team was beaten at home Sunday 31-23 by the winless Minnesota Vikings. Alas, that point is moot now that the Texans have fired O'Brien, who was also the team's general manager.

O'Brien, who was lured away from Penn State ahead of the 2014 NFL season, was 52-48 with Houston and won four AFC South titles, including the past two. His teams were 2-4 in the playoffs. There were rumors O'Brien was close to being fired early in the 2018 season when the Texans started 0-3, but they rallied to finish 11-5 and win the South. That was the last NFL team to start 0-3 and reach the postseason.

It's not that O'Brien is a bad coach, but he has been a terrible general manager. His trade of DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona this past offseason was widely panned, and he gave up first-round picks in 2020 and 2021 plus a '21 second-rounder to Miami in the Laremy Tunsil/Kenny Stills deal on the eve of the 2019 season. Tunsil is a good player, but now Houston may lose the top overall pick in this year's draft to the Dolphins.

Current assistant head coach Romeo Crennel, 28-55 as a former head coach with the Browns and Chiefs, will serve as the interim coach, presumably the rest of the season. This will be a fairly enticing offseason job to some big-name candidates simply because of Deshaun Watson. Houston Chronicle beat writer John McClain already has thrown out the name of Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. Don't be surprised to hear Dabo Swinney's name, either, considering he coached Watson at Clemson.

Houston is a 6.5-point home favorite this Sunday vs. the Jaguars, whose own coach may not be around much longer. 

Who wins every NFL game this week? And which teams cover more than 50 percent of the time? Get picks here from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks.