The Houston Texans clinched their playoff spot in Week 16 as winners of the AFC South. Nonetheless, they entered the AFC playoff bracket because the lowest-ranked division winner and the No. 4 seed.
Now, after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers to open Wild Card Weekend, what’s subsequent for this squad? Let’s study the Texans’ playoff situations and potential Divisional Spherical opponents earlier than figuring out what paths might make them host the AFC Championship Sport.
What Are the Houston Texans’ Playoff Eventualities?
After profitable on Wild Card Weekend, Houston has a variety of potential opponents within the Divisional Spherical. The Texans might face any of 4 groups, with solely the Denver Broncos not being a potential final result for them.
For all the situations outlined on this article, the bottom line is that the NFL reseeds its groups after each spherical. When every spherical of video games is over, the bottom remaining seed is paired as much as face the very best remaining seed, and the upper seed in each matchup hosts the sport.
Based mostly on PFN’s win chances, the Texans’ most certainly opponent is the Kansas City Chiefs. With the No. 2 seed Buffalo Bills favored to win and No. 3 seed Baltimore Ravens profitable on Saturday, Houston could be the bottom remaining seed within the AFC and head to Arrowhead.
There’s a 45.2% probability that the Texans play their Divisional Spherical sport in Kansas Metropolis. The subsequent most certainly final result primarily based on our win chances is a 26.3% probability of taking part in in Baltimore and a sport in Buffalo at 18.0%.
MORE: NFL Playoff Bracket: Divisional Round Schedule, Playoff Seeds, Matchups
For the Texans to move to Baltimore, the Denver Broncos would want to upset the Payments on the highway. That will ship the No. 7 seed Broncos to Kansas Metropolis, with Houston going to Baltimore for a rematch of its Christmas Day mauling by the Ravens.
The Texans haven’t any probability of internet hosting a playoff sport within the Divisional Spherical now that the Ravens defeated the Steelers within the Wild Card Spherical.
May the Texans Host the AFC Championship Sport?
There are a number of paths that would see the Texans internet hosting the AFC Championship Sport. All of them require assist from the Chiefs Payments, and Ravens. For the reason that Ravens gained on Saturday, if the Payments win in Wild Card Weekend, then the Texans could be the bottom remaining seed and wouldn’t be capable of host the AFC Championship Sport.
Due to this fact, Houston wants Denver to win. Then, the Broncos want to enter Arrowhead and beat the reigning Tremendous Bowl champions.
In the meantime, the Texans would want to then win their Divisional Spherical sport, probably counting on their seventh-ranked protection by PFN’s Defense+ metric. This would depart them as the very best remaining seed within the AFC.
That path isn’t notably probably, because the Chiefs are at the moment projected to beat the Broncos round 60% of the time. Equally, the Texans could be underdogs in opposition to the Payments (28.5%) and Ravens (24.3%) within the Divisional Spherical.
By present odds, there may be only a 7.3% probability of the Texans making the AFC Championship Sport after taking part in the Payments or Ravens, and only a 21% probability of the Broncos making it after taking part in Kansas Metropolis. There may be only a 3.7% probability that each the Texans and Broncos advance to the AFC Championship Sport.
