Bill O'Brien expects to return as Texans' coach in 2018

HOUSTON -- With Sunday's 26-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Texans fell to 4-9, ensuring their first losing season under Bill O'Brien, who has one year remaining on his five-year contract he signed when he took over as head coach.

On Monday he said he expects to be back in 2018. He also said his agent has not had a discussion with Texans owner Bob McNair about a contract extension and he has "no idea" whether that will happen after the season.

"I signed a five-year contract. I expect to be back here, but those decisions are not made by me," O'Brien said. "My job is to make sure that I coach these players. I really care about these players. I really care about how hard they're working and the effort that they're putting in. And we're not seeing the results on the field, so I really want to try to improve that over the next three weeks."

The Texans have lost six of their past seven games and have struggled to score on offense since rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson was lost for the season with a torn ACL. With Tom Savage in the concussion protocol it's possible the Texans will have to start a third different quarterback this season, if T.J. Yates starts at quarterback in Week 15.

Watson tweeted Monday that he also hopes O'Brien is back as his coach.

"I enjoy being the head coach of the Houston Texans. I have great relationships with these players here, and I'm going to continue to coach hard until they tell me I'm not coaching here anymore."

O'Brien, 48, is 31-30 in the regular season as the Texans' coach and 1-2 in the playoffs. The Texans won back-to-back AFC South titles in 2015-16 before stumbling this season.