The Houston Texans made a conservative decision midway through the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17.
Houston trailed the 49ers 17-7 with 6:54 to go in the game. They needed a touchdown and a field goal to tie the game to extend their winning streak to three games.
Instead of going for it on third-and-8, or even sending kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn out for a 59-yard field goal, the Texans punted the football.
Coach David Culley explained after the 23-7 loss why he chose to punt the ball away rather than go with other options.
“We had three timeouts, and I felt like if we got them backed up with three timeouts, we’d be able to get a score and be able to get the ball back,” Culley said. “It didn’t work out that way. They ended up keeping the ball. But that was my thinking.”
The 49ers mounted a 10-play, 71-yard drive that melted another 3:27 off the clock and concluded with San Francisco kicker Robbie Gould adding a 27-yard field goal to extend their lead 20-7.
Incidentally the Texans ended up going for it on fourth down on the ensuing drive as they were down two touchdowns. It turned out to be the Texans’ only fourth down attempt of the game. Houston went four-and-out from their own 27-yard line and gave the ball right back to San Francisco, who added another Gould field goal, this time from 36 yards out, to establish the game’s 23-7 final score.
