HOUSTON — In 2013, Gary Kubiak’s last season as their coach, the Houston Texans lost nine games by seven or fewer points and finished 2-14.

This season, Bill O’Brien’s first as their coach, the Texans have lost three consecutive games by seven or fewer points.

Entering Sunday’s game at Tennessee, the Texans are 3-4. They’ve lost four of five games, including Dallas (20-17), Indianapolis (33-28) and Pittsburgh (30-23).

Defensive end J.J. Watt was asked if he thought the Texans have developed a bad trend losing 12 of their last 19 games by seven or fewer points?

“Losing is a bad trend,” he said. “I like the way we work. I like the way we fight. We do a good job of fighting back. It’s like I said after the (Pittsburgh) game, and I meant it: I’m sick of saying we do a good job of fighting back.

“If you give away points, you’re not going to have too much success. It’s concentration and discipline. We need to do a better job in all three phases. We put ourselves in good position. When we don’t just hand away points like we’ve been doing, we’ll be just fine.”

If the Texans snap their losing streak by defeating the Titans, they’ll be 4-4 at the midway point. They’ll host Philadelphia before their bye week.

But if they extend the losing streak to four games at Tennessee, they’ll be 3-5 and looking at 3-6 after the Eagles visit NRG Stadium.

No player knows more about losing with the Texans than wide receiver Andre Johnson, who’s playing in his 12th season.

“I’m not worried about last year,” he said when asked to compare the last three defeats to last season. “All you can do is focus on what’s going on right now.

“I’ve been through a lot here. I’ve seen the worst of the worst. I don’t think it will get any worse. I don’t think anybody around here is feeling down or feeling like, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ The games we’ve lost have been things we’ve done, not something that the other team has done. It’s self-inflicted wounds. You just have to fix it.

“It’s frustrating because you don’t like losing. Probably the most frustrating thing is that you see the potential. It’s just putting it all together.”

Running back Arian Foster is having an exceptional season. In the last three losses to Dallas, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, he reached triple digits, averaging 122.7 yards, including 12 runs of at least 10 yards and 5.8 yards per carry.

For the season, Foster has 126 carries for 615 yards (4.9 per carry) and five touchdowns. He ranks second in the NFL to Dallas’ DeMarco Murray (913 yards).

What makes Foster’s performance even more remarkable is that he missed the loss to the New York Giants because of a hamstring injury and was limited to 6 yards on eight carries in the victory over Buffalo. In his six games, Foster averages 102.5 yards.

Foster, who missed more than half of last season because of injuries and underwent back surgery in the offseason, had 542 yards rushing in 2013.

NOTES: DE J.J. Watt leads the NFL with three fumble recoveries. He owns the team record with nine in his career. … NT Ryan Pickett has made a league-record 25 appearances on Monday Night Football during his 14-year career.