The Houston Texans hammered the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday, coming away with a 32-12 win.
The Texans were actually considered the underdogs heading into the matchup, but they emerged with a dominant victory thanks to a stifling defense and a smashmouth running game. C.J. Stroud also made some timely throws.
Houston will now head on the road to face the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round, and Bleacher Report's NFL staff actually feels that the Texans may have a chance.
"While the Texans offense needed time to find its footing against Los Angeles, the defense kept the team in the game," Bleacher Report wrote. "The league's sixth overall unit can slow the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. They just did it with [Justin] Herbert, which shows how competitive the squad really is."
Houston's defense was incredible against the Chargers, holding them to 261 yards of total offense and intercepting Herbert four times. For reference, Herbert threw three picks during the entire regular season.
Of course, the Chiefs are a different animal.
Kansas City is coming off of back-to-back Super Bowl championships, and it went 15-2 during the regular season. One of those losses came in Week 18 when the Chiefs rested everyone.
Beating Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium is definitely not going to be an easy task for the Texans, regardless of how great their defense looked against Los Angeles.
But this is the NFL playoffs, and pretty much anything can happen.
