Texans Lose No. 1 NFL Draft Pick By Winning Final Game In Final Minute As Bears Play QBs With More INTs Than TDs

The Texans will not have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. It was theirs to lose and they lost it by winning.

Entering Week 18, Houston had the worst record in the league at 2-13-1. A 14th loss, or even a tie, would have guaranteed that the NFL-worst record would remain in tact.

As a result, as the worst team in the NFL during the 2022/23 season, the Texans would have earned (?) the first pick in April's draft. It was a pretty simple reality.

However, a win made things more complicated.

Entering Week 18, Chicago had the second-worst record in the league at 3-13. A fourth win would have guaranteed that Houston would keep the No. 1 pick.

With nothing to play for, the Bears decided to sit most of their starters, and played both Nathan Peterman and Tim Boyle at quarterback instead of Justin Fields. Both quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in their NFL careers.

To the surprise of no one, Peterman and Boyle could not get the job done. Chicago lost to Minnesota on Sunday.

The Bears loss made things interesting for the Texans and the NFL Draft order.

At 3-14, the Bears would have finished with the worst record in the NFL if the Texans were to win. And that's exactly what happened in wild fashion.

Houston, which was one loss away from securing the No. 1 pick, was down by seven with 3:33 left in the game. It drove 83 yards on 14 plays in two minutes and 43 seconds and scored.

On 4th-and-20, an incomplete pass or a catch of 19 yards or less would have guaranteed that the Texans would pick first. Instead, they went for six.

Not only did Houston get in the end zone, head coach Lovie Smith sent his team out to go for 2. It was successful, and gave the Texans a one-point lead.

Indianapolis got the ball back with 50 seconds on the clock, but could not get within field goal range. Time expired, and Houston won, which means that Chicago secured the No. 1 NFL Draft pick, and the Texans were relegated to the No. 2 overall pick.

Smith, who is in his first year as head coach in Houston, had a well-documented conversation with team ownership earlier this week. It is unclear what they met about, but the 64-year-old is one of the coaches who may be fired on 'Black Monday.'

Perhaps Smith was trying to make a statement that he can win games by going for two? Perhaps he knows that he is going to be fired and chose to spite ownership by blowing the No. 1 pick?

Either way, the first two picks come April are set. The Bears will draft first, the Texans will draft second.

To make the sequence even crazier, Smith coached Chicago from 2004 to 2012. Sports are crazy!