Even in the impatient, pressure-packed world of the NFL, patience sometimes is rewarded.
The Texans are living proof. Houston is 10-1 and the leader in the clubhouse for the No. 1 AFC seed in the postseason, with home-field advantage throughout.
Imagine, Jets fans, watching your team go through five consecutive playoff-less seasons with a 37-43 record. Would you be happy standing pat at head coach?
Those were the guts of Texans head coach Gary Kubiak’s resume in his first five years in Houston. And you know what Texans owner Bob McNair did? He stayed the course, ignored pleas from fans and media to fire Kubiak and general manager Rick Smith, blow up the program and start over.
“It all starts with Bob McNair and his assessment of where we were,’’ Smith said by phone this week from Houston. “We were trying to build something. Even in those 8-8 years, we were making progress. We felt like we were a good team that was improving. To [McNair’s] credit, he exercised the kind of patience that a lot of times you don’t see.’’
Now McNair owns one of best teams in the league, one with a franchise quarterback in place (Matt Schaub, ninth in the league passer rating at 94.4), one of the league’s best running backs (Arian Foster, the second-leading rusher with 1,064 yards) and one of the top receivers in the league (Andre Johnson, sixth with 69 catches).
That said, the Texans’ biggest step toward Super Bowl contender relevancy has been in their rebuilt defense, which had been an Achilles’ heel for years.
Kubiak’s first two defensive coordinators — Richard Smith (2006-08) and Frank Bush (2009-10) — were straight out of the good-old-boy network, friends from his days in Denver. Neither had been defensive coordinator play-callers before coming to Houston, and the defense suffered.
The Texans ranked 25th in points allowed and 24th in yards allowed in 2006. In 2007, they were 22nd and 24th. In 2008, they were 22nd and 29th. In their first winning season, 2009, the Texans were 17th and 13th, respectively, before falling to 29th and 30th in 2010.
After going 6-10 in 2010, McNair told Kubiak to hire a defensive coordinator with some substance to his resume.
Enter Wade Phillips. The results have been dramatic. The Texans went 10-6 last season and made the playoffs for the first time. They ranked fourth in points allowed and second in yards allowed. They rank fifth and sixth, respectively, this season entering today’s game against the Titans.
“After the 6-10 year … internally we took a hard look at ourselves and felt we were underperforming on defense, so we spoke to that,’’ Smith said.
McNair is the most patient owner in the NFL, and now he’s reaping the benefits. His team already has clinched its third winning season in four years and is headed to its second consecutive postseason.
“We have not achieved our goals yet,’’ Smith said. “We’ve had marginal success. But you’ve got to achieve certain milestones along the way.’’
Owning a three-game lead with five to play, an AFC South title is destined to be one of those milestones. Getting past the divisional round of the playoffs, where the Texans’ season died last year, will be the next step. Then comes an AFC Championship, which they could host, and a Super Bowl to follow to complete the journey.
If that should happen, maybe some NFL owners will take notice and pause before succumbing to impatience, instead staying the course the way the Texans did.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com