There was a lot of hype surrounding the Houston Texans Week 17 Christmas day clash against the Baltimore Ravens. The Texans had a home game in front of their fans at NRG Stadium that was viewed as a measuring stick for their playoff hopes, and there was a huge halftime show performance from Beyonce. The day was shaping up to be a great one for Houston fans.
Instead, the Texans ended up putting together a nightmarish performance in front of a national audience. Houston was never competitive against Baltimore, and they suffered a humiliating 31-2 defeat. With just one game left before the postseason, the Texans have hit a new rock bottom at the worst possible time.
Houston has already locked up the AFC South, but they have lost five of their past eight games, while barely scraping out wins against lowly teams in the Jacksonville Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, and Miami Dolphins. So while the postseason is in their future, the Texans’ latest loss proves that they have virtually no shot of winning it all this season.
Texans are falling apart at the worst possible time
After their breakout campaign in 2023, there were some high expectations for the Texans this season. They had a talented quarterback in C.J. Stroud leading the way, and they bolstered both their offense around him with the additions of Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon to seemingly make the team even better.
And yet, while the team raced out to a 6-2 start, they didn’t dominate like they were expected to. Only one of their first six wins came by more than six points, and that was a 41-21 victory over the New England Patriots, who had Drake Maye making the first start of his NFL career. Houston was grinding out victories, and while wins are wins, fans were waiting for them to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
To this point, that simply hasn’t happened, and they have actually gotten worse as the season has gone on, as evidenced by their latest loss. The defense can’t prevent their opponents from scoring, and their offense can’t score. Frankly, they are lucky they play in the AFC South, where they have posted a 4-1 record in their division games, because in any other circumstance, they wouldn’t be a playoff team.
What has gone wrong for Houston this season? A combination of things, with the primary issue being Stroud’s struggles under center. Stroud looked completely lost against the Ravens, as he missed several easy throws and struggled to get on the same page with any of his receivers. Considering how solid he was as a rookie, Stroud’s massive step back in his sophomore campaign is becoming a legitimate concern.
Of course, it’s worth noting Stroud isn’t alone in this team’s struggles. Their offensive line, which was one of the biggest reasons for their success last season, has been horrific this year, and their pass catching corps has been banged up all season long. Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell are already out for the season, and Nico Collins missed several games early on in the year with a hamstring injury.
Could Houston dig themselves out of this rut they are currently in and go on a run in the postseason? You can never say never, but they have shown nothing to indicate they are capable of doing so. Their injuries are piling up, their players are performing worse as the season goes on, and again, they only have one more regular season game before the playoffs start.
The Texans will get home field advantage against the No. 5 seed in the AFC in the first round, but it’s tough to feel confident that they could beat any of the potential wild card teams they will go up against. And even then, they will likely have to go through two of the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Ravens just to make it to the Super Bowl. It just isn’t going to happen, and soon enough, Houston will be entering the offseason looking for answers after failing to meet expectations in 2024.
