NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Texans coach Gary Kubiak stood there so defeated and dispirited, so utterly out of answers.

He had just watched his players quit on him — not just on him but on themselves and on the owner who continues to believe in them.

This appears to be a first. Even in the worst of times, the Texans always played hard, fought until the end. Not this time. They seemed disinterested in competing, apparently ready to pack their cars and head for those offseason vacations.

So they fell behind by 21 points in the first quarter, getting run off the field by a team that had lost six in a row and been tied with the Texans for last place in the AFC South.

"This is embarrassing," safety Bernard Pollard said after a 31-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday dropped the Texans to 5-9 and ended any thought of a winning season or a come-from-nowhere run to a playoff berth.

Kubiak would never put it that way. He's going to protect his players, even the ones who don't deserve protecting. But he surely learned a lot about them on a day the Texans had more penalties (nine) than first downs (six) in the first half.

"I thought we looked slow," Kubiak said. "Guys looked slow moving around."

That's a nice way of saying they just weren't into it, that winning was more important to the other guys.

"The display of defense in that first quarter and a half was horrible," linebacker Brian Cushing said. "What it is, I don't know. I don't know what's going on or what happened with us."

The Texans lost the tough battles inside along with plenty of the little ones outside. They could neither run the ball (30 yards) nor stop the run (147 yards). They had breakdowns in protection, special teams, you name it.

The week began with Texans owner Bob McNair solidly in his coach's corner, adding, astonishingly, that he believed his franchise to be on the right track. But a game like this one surely rattled his confidence, because it was so inexcusable.

Kubiak helpless

"We have the talent, but we're making mistake after mistake," Pollard said. "It's all of us. At a certain point, you don't know what to say."

To fire Kubiak at this point would be an act of mercy. Whatever his message, it's not getting through.

"We got it handed to us pretty good today," Kubiak said. "They outcoached us. They outplayed us. They beat us up pretty good."

The Titans were up 14-0 midway through the first quarter, and whenever the Texans seemed close to making it competitive, they did something dumb.

How about those nine first-half penalties?

"I don't know," Kubiak said. "Concentration?"

Those are the words of a beaten man. He's the guy who has defended his players at every turn, but for whatever reason, they've decided he's not worth fighting for.

Now a word about an offense that's supposed to be one of the best in the NFL — sixth in yards, ninth in points.

Just goes to show that you can twist numbers to prove almost anything. The Texans aren't a good offensive team, at least not when it counts.

Inconsistency remains

They're averaging 8.1 points in the first half, 2.6 points in the first quarter. In their past four losses, they've been outscored 95-30 in the first half.

The Texans are an unstoppable offensive team only after they have fallen way behind.

"Good teams play well from start to finish, and we're not doing that," linebacker Kevin Bentley said. "After the first couple of minutes, you start to ask, 'Where's our energy?' “

In defense of that offense, its job is tougher because the Texans give up so many points. An opposing defense can take chances because it knows its offense will score a boatload of points.

Once the Titans got a lead, they were free to blitz from every angle, and Matt Schaub took another terrible beating. That he continues to pick himself back up is a tribute to his toughness and guts.

He, too, had a bad first half, but the Texans could use 50 others who care as much as Schaub.

Cushing, Andre Johnson and Arian Foster are playing hurt, and in every corner of the locker room, there's the recognition of a season of optimism having come undone.

"I don't know what to think," Johnson said. "They pretty much just kicked our butts. That's pretty much been our season."