Countdown to Kickoff: 49ers - Texans

Neither the Texans nor the 49ers are making the playoffs this season. For 49ers fans, it’s just another season in a long period of futility punctuated by the lights going out on their hopes and dreams of regaining their dominance of the NFL. For Texans fans, who went into the season with questions about Bill O’Brien’s competence in selecting Tom Savage as the starter over Deshaun Watson, and who have watched their offensive genius head coach struggle to construct an offensive line capable of executing his scheme and a receiving corps that consists of more than just DeAndre Hopkins, this season has been a bit of a nightmare.

There are fans who would argue the Texans’ hopes died when J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus went down to season-ending injuries in the same game. Others will argue it all ended when Deshaun Watson’s ACL died during practice. Others will say the season was D.O.A. when Savage was named the starter. But the majority of us have shifted into the acceptance phase, a skill honed through the first decade of the team’s existence and tested in 2013. Even so, we still watch, because we’re still looking for something, anything, that tells us this team is headed in the right direction, and all this suffering will someday be worth it. The Astros waited 56 years to win it all. I think most of us recognize that our livers and eyes won’t survive long enough the Texans can’t right the ship in the next decade.

We’re here, counting down until these two teams make us reach for eye bleach and continuously ask “Why did you do that?,” at the TV or computer screen. As bad as the Texans are right now, I foresee a whole lot of broken TVs should they lose to the 2-10 49ers.

This is your Countdown to Kickoff thread. Chill here until the first quarter thread opens at 11:45 CST.