The Houston Texans certainly had a respectable 2019 season but they ended it in a very embarrassing fashion. After going 10-6, winning the division, and coming back from a 16 point deficit in the third quarter against the Buffalo Bills to win in overtime in the first round of the playoffs, the Texans got obliterated by the Chiefs after a first quarter in which everything went right. The Texans went up 21-0 in the first quarter against the Chiefs in the AFC Divisional round and then tacked on a field goal to make it 24-0 with just under 11 minutes left in the second quarter. The tables turned right after that made field goal. The Chiefs would score three straight touchdowns in about four and a half minutes and then four more touchdowns after that to make it 41-24 (one missed extra point). They ended up losing 51-31 so it was a horrible ending to the season for Texans fans. In the offseason, the Texans traded their star receiver, DeAndre Hopkins, and a 2020 fourth round pick to the Cardinals for running back, David Johnson, a 2020 second round pick, and 2021 fourth round pick. In my opinion and in many others, this was just a horrible trade for the Texans. The Texans did trade for Brandin Cooks, a decent receiver from the Rams, but he is not nearly as talented as Hopkins. The Texans are looking to defend their division title and possibly make a deeper playoff run than last year. Below is my regular season prediction for the Houston Texans.
Week 1: @ Kansas City Chiefs - loss
Week 2: vs. Baltimore Ravens - loss
Week 3: @ Pittsburgh Steelers - win
Week 4: vs. Minnesota Vikings - win
Week 5: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars - win
Week 6: @ Tennessee Titans - loss
Week 7: vs. Green Bay Packers - loss
Week 8: Bye Week
Week 9: @ Jacksonville Jaguars - win
Week 10: @ Cleveland Browns - win
Week 11: @ New England Patriots - win
Week 12: @ Detroit Lions - win
Week 13: vs. Indianapolis Colts - win
Week 14: @ Chicago Bears - loss
Week 15: @ Indianapolis Colts - loss
Week 16: vs. Cincinnati Bengals - win
Week 17: vs. Tennessee Titans - win
Despite the downgrade at the receiver position, I still think the Texans will manage to win 10 games just like last year. For those of you who have been reading the blog daily and keeping up with this NFL prediction series, you might realize that we have a three way tie atop the AFC South and then a four way tie for the three wild card spots in the AFC. This is going to be madness as we will have to get all the tiebreakers sorted out. And who knows, maybe even a team from the AFC west goes 10-6 and ties these teams. Stick around to see how the whole NFL season unfolds because starting this coming Sunday, we will begin the NFC teams and will be releasing two teams per day to get things rolling faster. Now for the Texans, I have them beating the Steelers and Browns on the road. Those are two huge games which should make them a lock for at least the wild card if not the division. The loss in week 14 in Chicago is one that I think is definitely avoidable but the cold whether and the Bears defense does not allow the Texans offense to get anything going. A win in that game could've given the Texans the uncontested division lead but they will have to compete for the title via tiebreaker.
*At the end of this series, once I have gone through every team, I will give my playoff predictions as well as season awards.*
Love how you let us know what to look forward to in the coming weeks