The Houston Texans suffered the worst loss in franchise history in Sunday's embarrassing 40-0 wipeout at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.
It was a historically dreadful performance on many levels. The negative-40 point differential is the worst in franchise history. The 109 total yards were the third-fewest in club history. The six total first downs are second-fewest. The one third-down conversion was tied for second-fewest. And the five turnovers tied for second-most in franchise history (only one game with more).
Any optimism surrounding rookie quarterback Davis Mills has quickly evaporated. The rookie was 11-of-21 passing for 87 yards and four interceptions. Mills became the first Texans QB to throw at least four INTs and for fewer than 100 pass yards in a game -- and the third player in the last five seasons to do so (also Sam Darnold in 2019 and Nathan Peterman in 2017).
Despite the woeful performance from the QB, coach David Culley didn't hang the blowout loss on Mills.
"This wasn't just Davis Mills, everybody around Davis Mills... nobody played well around him. It's not Davis. Our entire offense did not play well today," Culley said, via KPRC 2 Houston’s Vanessa Richardson. "You could put Joe Montana out there today, and the way we played, you're not going to have any success on offense."
Given the way the Texans offense looked in six quarters with Tyrod Taylor, it's fair to contrast the veteran's play with the struggles Mills has encountered.
"It was a tough loss obviously," Mills said. "We don't want to ever have the feeling of putting up zero points."
With the Texans' rebuild evident, there are likely more struggles ahead for Houston this season. However, it can't get much worse than Sunday's performance.
