Is Owen Coyle on the hot seat?

The Houston Dynamo’s playoff chances are shot, to put it bluntly. A loss to FC Dallas, their third of the season, made sure of that on Sunday night.

Fabian Castillo drew a penalty and had an assist while David Texeira scored twice, including a magnificent long-shot winner in the second half.

The Dynamo defense was broken early and often by Castillo and Mauro Diaz, especially down the right side. The Columbian attacked down that side and made a mess of right-back Boniek Garcia in the first half-hour.

Coach Owen Coyle quickly stepped in and cleaned it up, bringing on Sheanon Williams and taking out Rasheed Olabiyi then moving Garcia to the center and Williams to full-back.

This helped considerably, but some very good second-half goals by FC Dallas negated Ricardo Clark’s 36th-minute strike into the bottom corner from range.

With the season essentially over, the question arises, Is Coyle on the hot seat? The answer to that is tough to consider, but should be no.

The main reason is that this is only his first season. He should be given more time to develop players and make this team great. You can't do that in one season.

And this year wasn't that bad. The Western Conference is incredibly tough, so making the playoffs is very hard task. In the Eastern Conference, they would be only a point back of sixth-place.

His main flaw is a lack of consistency. The Dynamo have used different formations and lineups in almost every game this season. It's hard to find a rhythm when things change so much.

Granted, crucial injuries and international call-ups for players like DaMarcus Beasley, Jermaine Taylor, Giles Barnes, Brad Davis, Ricardo Clark and multiple others contributed to the fluctuation of the starting 11, but more consistent formations and personnel definitely could have helped.

This season was no doubt a minor disappointment for Dynamo fans, but give Coyle some time. Remember, this is the guy that brought Burnley promotion to the Premier League.