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Player who must step up: QB Tyrod Taylor

Although it's a small sample size, Taylor got off to a good start before he injured his left hamstring in Week 2 against the Cleveland Browns. He has struggled in his return from injured reserve, and he was benched for rookie quarterback Davis Mills in Houston's Week 13 loss to the Colts. Taylor, who signed a one-year deal with the Texans, is playing for a chance to be on an NFL roster next season, but it remains to be seen if he'll get the opportunity to prove himself the rest of the way. After a blowout loss to the Colts, Texans coach David Culley wouldn't commit to Taylor keeping his starting job, saying, "When you don't score any points in the game, you evaluate everything." -- Sarah Barshop

The Texans were shut out for the second time this season, the latest indignity in a season full of them. Tyrod Taylor was sent to the bench during the blowout to Colts, and Ian Rapoport reported Monday the veteran is considered week-to-week with a wrist injury on his non-throwing arm. That opens the door for rookie Davis Mills to return to the lineup in Week 14, and most likely, for the balance of the regular season. Something tells us that the Texans' Week 1 starter at QB in 2022 isn't currently on the roster. In fact, we'd be willing to bet that a lot of players who will be starting for the Texans in Week 1 of 2022 aren't currently under contract with the team.

They are a bad team right now and there doesn't seem to be anything that can fix it. Tyrod Taylor has been awful.

The last time a team suffered two shutouts by 30+ points in the same season was 2002 (Panthers). Until now. In fact, Houston has failed to crack double-digit points in half of its games this season.

Best-case scenario: The Texans should pray that the Lions go on a winning streak and Houston slides up to the No. 1 pick in the draft. Houston showed nothing on Sunday to indicate it's remotely close to being competitive anymore this season, and that's unlikely to change even with a potential quarterback switch back to Davis Mills this week. The best Houston can hope for now is escaping this season without any additional catastrophes and beginning the next phase of its rebuild as soon as possible.