Emotional Bill O'Brien after collapse vs. Steelers: 'We can't do that'

The Texans, after a hot start on Monday Night Football, unraveled in the second quarter in Pittsburgh and eventually lost 30-23.

The Texans made a multitude of mistakes in the loss but had an onside kick with a chance to get the ball back and score late in the game.

Head coach Bill O’Brien wasn't happy when he talked to the media minutes after the final whistle.

“It was 30-23. It wasn't 50-0,” O’Brien said with a raised voice to reporters in Pittsburgh. “My point is, like, we can't do that. We can't turn the ball over. We can't field the kick, bobble the kick, we can't give up shot plays, we can't have 12 men on the field on third down, give them the first down. We just can't do those things and with all that said, we're an onside kick away. These questions are like we lost 50-0. We lost by a touchdown with all that stuff that we did. We have to improve it. We gotta coach it better and we have to play better.”

O’Brien mentioned several times how close the Texans were at the end of the game.

He then made sure everyone knows he doesn’t believe in moral victories in the NFL.

“I think it's a negative,” an emotional O’Brien spouted. “We lost. It's negative. It's terrible to lose. It's not good to lose. But my point is to these players in the locker room is that with all these things that we did wrong, if we can fix those things that we're doing wrong, especially turning the ball over twice inside the 5-yard-line, if we can fix those things, maybe we would have a better shot to win. So no, it's awful to lose. It's not good to come close; there's no moral victories. But we have to fix these things. We have to coach better and we have to play better.”

The Texans’ started off Monday’s game strong, scoring the first 13 points of the game. But on their second and third drives, they settled for field goals, which ended up being extremely costly in the loss, especially when they had an absolute meltdown at the end of the second quarter. The Steelers scored 24 points in under three minutes.

O’Brien was happy about the fast start but not with the points they got.

“We can't run it, can't throw it, so we have to kick field goals,” he said. “So we're down there three or four times and we come away with only a 13-point lead against a team with Ben Roethlisberger. That's not going to be good enough. Plus the fact that we turn it over and have a horrendous second quarter. It's just not good enough to win in this league. It's never going to be good enough.”

-- Dave Zangaro, CSNHouston.com