The 2004 season was the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

' third in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, all of which they had spent under

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Dom Capers Ernest Dominic Capers (born August 7, 1950) is an American football coach who is a senior defensive assistant for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the inaugural head coach of the Panthers and the Ho ...

. The team finished 7–9, two games better than the previous season, and came third in the AFC South, the first time they had not finished bottom. The Texans also earned their first victory over the Tennessee Titans, the franchise previously known as the Oilers, who had left Houston after the 1996 season. Quarterback David Carr, who missed four games the previous season, started all 16 games in 2004. Carr finished 2004 as his best season with Houston, finishing 285-of-466 for 3,531 yards with 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Carr's 466 attempts, 3,531 passing yards, and 16 passing touchdowns would all be career highs for him. Additionally, this was the first season Carr finished with more touchdowns than interceptions.

Offseason

NFL draft

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. San Diego Chargers

Week 2: at Detroit Lions

Week 3: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 4: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 5: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 6: at Tennessee Titans

With the win, the Texans improved to 3–3. This was the Texans' first win over the Tennessee Titans, who previously played in Houston as the Oilers from 1960 to 1996.

Week 8: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 9: at Denver Broncos

Week 10: at Indianapolis Colts

Week 11: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 12: vs. Tennessee Titans

With the win, the Texans improved to 5–6, snapped their three game losing streak, and swept the Titans for the first time in franchise history.

Week 13: at New York Jets

Week 14: vs. Indianapolis Colts

With the loss to Indianapolis the Texans were eliminated from playoff contention at 5-8.

Week 15: at Chicago Bears

Week 16: at Jacksonville Jaguars

This was the first

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

win in Texans history.

Week 17: vs. Cleveland Browns

Looking to secure their first non-losing season, the 7–8 Texans hosted the 3–12 Browns in the regular season finale of the 2004 season. Despite only committing one turnover, Houston's offense struggled and only gained 238 yards of total offense compared to Cleveland's 364. The Texans scored a touchdown with 1:23 left to trail 14–22 and attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by the Browns who would run out the clock to win the game.

Standings

Division

Conference

Statistics

Team

Individual

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004 Houston Texans Season Houston Texans seasons

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...