Texans fire head coach Lovie Smith after just 1 season

Lovie Smith was fired as coach of the Houston Texans on Sunday night after just one season in which the team went 3-13-1.

It's the second straight season in which the Texans have fired a coach after just one year. They parted ways with David Culley last January after he went 4-13 in his only season.

"I'm constantly evaluating our football operation and believe this is the best decision for us at this time," general manager Nick Caserio said in a statement announcing Smith's firing. "It is my responsibility to build a comprehensive and competitive program that can sustain success over a long period of time. We aren't there right now, however, with the support of the [team owner] McNair family and the resources available to us, I'm confident in the direction of our football program moving forward."

Thank you, Coach Smith. <a href="https://t.co/j1lshub6u5">pic.twitter.com/j1lshub6u5</a>

The Texans had the league's worst record for most of the season, but won two of their last three games, capped by Sunday's win over the Colts that cost the team the No. 1 overall pick in next year's draft. The 32-31 victory over Indianapolis gave Chicago the top pick and left Houston to choose second in April's draft.

The 64-year-old Smith was one of the few Black coaches in the NFL along with Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin, Tampa Bay's Todd Bowles and Miami's Mike McDaniel, who is biracial. The league requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching positions, but has long fallen short of its goal to increase the number of Black coaches in a league where the majority of players are Black.

Texans owner Cal McNair said in a statement that he and Caserio informed Smith of the move Sunday night and thanked him for his