Former Texans QB Sage Rosenfels shares funny story about Cal McNair

People have an idea of what Houston Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair is like as a public persona and head of the franchise, but what is he like behind the scenes?

Former Texans backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels joined Michael Silver’s podcast to talk about the Texans’ boss.

“I’ve got nothing really bad to say about Cal McNair,” Rosenfels said. “He always treated me really nice. I was open to conversations with him.”

One story Rosenfels shared came from the 2006 season when he first arrived to Houston with new coach Gary Kubiak.

“One time my first year there I was talking to David Carr about this, and David had just come from Cal’s office, I think, to discuss something,” said Rosenfels, who went 6-4 as a starter in Houston from 2006-08. “I’m not sure what it was. And I hadn’t really met Cal at this point.

“I was like, ‘What’s Cal like?’

“He’s like, ‘Well, I walk into his office and he’s sitting on the floor. There’s no desk or anything and there’s this huge TV on the wall, and he’s playing video games.’

“I was like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’

“And I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ And that was like my only really behind-the-curtain Cal McNair story other than he was a really nice guy and was kind of his dad’s right-hand guy sort of, and shake hands after the game.”

The Texans were still in the expansion phase of their franchise when Rosenfels was there, going 6-10 in 2006 followed up by consecutive 8-8 finishes the next two seasons.

It is unknown whether McNair still sits in his office on the floor playing video games on a flatscreen. Given the decisions that face the team as they recover from a 4-12 disappointment in 2020, it is doubtful he has much leisure time at NRG Stadium these days.