{"id":661560,"date":"2026-01-07T16:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661560\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:37:15","slug":"houston-texans-nfl-power-rankings-wildcard-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661560\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Texans NFL Power Rankings: Wildcard Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the final week of the Houston Texans Power rankings! Every year, the power rankings create an interesting chart of the greater football public\u2019s thoughts on the Texans, almost like watching a stock ticker. Their gains and losses week by week mark the thoughts of those bullish and bearish on the Texans alike, and every inflection point tells a story. Out of all my years rounding up the power rankings and throwing my two cents in, this year was by far the most unpredictable.<\/p>\n

With Houston\u2019s last victory in the regular season finale against the Indianapolis Colts, they\u2019ve reached a franchise-tying record of 12 wins and tie another franchise record of consecutive wins with their ninth in a row. This is the highest win total quarterback CJ Stroud and head coach DeMeco Ryans have reached while in Houston, and arguably their most impressive season yet considering the gauntlet of playoff teams they faced. Despite the Texans\u2019 many warts on offense and their concession of the AFC South title to the Jacksonville Jaguars, this long win streak has given Texans fans reason to be confident entering the playoffs as a road team. This team just excels at winning close games, and more importantly, the Texans have a defense so overwhelmingly powerful that they\u2019re getting comparisons to the legendary Seattle Seahawks \u201cLegion of Boom\u201d defense of the early 2010s.<\/p>\n

They are without equal on defense, lifting the Texans all the way back to the top ten positioning they were receiving before the season had started. In fact, where the Texans reside in the rankings now is far, far higher than the spots authors were plugging them in around this time last year, where practically everyone had sold out on Houston entering the postseason. Even the common playoff time slot signaled disinterest: Saturday @ 3:30 PM, a time slot that the Texans have never been able to drum up enough hype to dig out of – until 2025!<\/p>\n

So, for the first time ever, the Houston Texans get out of that Saturday afternoon game and onto Monday Night Football to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. A defense that ranks sixth in passing yards\/game, fourth in rushing yards\/game, fourth in turnover percentage, and second in point differential will take you places you\u2019ve never been before, even all the way to prime time on Monday night\u2026where the Steelers have gone undefeated under head coach Mike Tomlin\u2026.<\/p>\n

Well, I guess the Texans can have the win streak and the good vibes, but they still can\u2019t have everything. Although, if I had to pick the most vulnerable opponent in the playoffs for the Texans to face, it\u2019d be the Steelers. Pittsburgh needed the division rival Ravens to completely lose their pass rush, stop handing the ball off to RB Derrick Henry, throw an interception deep in Baltimore territory, and suffer a missed field goal to win their regular season finale by just two points. The Steelers clearly aren\u2019t a powerhouse, and, seeing that Houston is currently favored by 3 points as the away team, it looks like the general public has finally caught onto the Texans beating those kinds of teams. But, just because they should win might not be enough to shake some pundits\u2019 suspicions of the Texans as a true contender, so where are the Texans ranked entering wildcard weekend of the 2025 NFL season? Well, that\u2019s take a look:<\/p>\n

6. Houston Texans (12-5) (Last Week: 8)<\/p>\n

Perhaps it\u2019s a sign of growth, but after playing their last eight Wild Card Round games in the Saturday 4:30 p.m. ET slot, the Texans will head to Pittsburgh for a prime-time contest<\/a>in which they are favored to win. They\u2019ve won nine straight games, seven of them by one score, but they\u2019re undoubtedly a steadier operation than the Steelers right now and clearly have a good opportunity in front of them. Defense travels, and even after their season-worst 30 points allowed to the Colts<\/a> and their first-time starting QB, the Texans head into the playoffs with the second-best scoring D in the NFL. Houston\u2019s potential lies in how much C.J. Stroud<\/a> and the offense produce. They\u2019ve been good at taking care of the ball and posting respectable results most weeks, but the output must be kicked up a notch or two in order for the Texans to do some real damage in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

9. Houston Texans (12-5, AFC No. 5 Seed) (Last Week: 9)<\/p>\n

The Houston Texans couldn\u2019t overcome a sluggish start to the season and still win the AFC South. However, they won nine straight games to finish the campaign and enter the playoffs about as hot as anyone in either conference.<\/p>\n

Houston\u2019s defense is championship-caliber, and we\u2019ve known that for most of the year. What should worry other teams is the fact that the offense has started to find an identity under first-year coordinator Nick Caley.<\/p>\n

The Texans haven\u2019t been as consistent offensively as they\u2019d probably like to be at this point in the year. However, they\u2019ve identified budding difference-makers such as rookie wideout Jayden Higgins, rookie running back Woody Marks and second-year back Jawhar Jordan.<\/p>\n

Houston has only lost two games since its Week 4 bye. Both came against teams that are now No. 1 seeds in the postseason, and they came by a combined 11 points. This is a team that can win it all.<\/p>\n

8. Texans (12-5) (Last Week: 8)<\/p>\n

They have won nine straight games behind the defense. That unit is dominant and can travel, which it will need to do in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

4. Houston Texans (12-5) (Last Week: 7)<\/p>\n

Home or away, rain or shine, defense travels. And whether you\u2019re looking at the tape, the stat sheet \u2013 the Texans rank No. 1 overall defensively and second in points allowed \u2013 or watching it get off the bus, this is as daunting a unit as there is in the league. At the vanguard, DEs Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, the only duo in the league with at least a dozen sacks apiece in 2025. Did we mention no team is hotter, Houston carrying a nine-game winning streak into the postseason? Relatively speaking, on the other side of the ball, a middling offense hasn\u2019t been nearly as good. Still, QB C.J. Stroud, the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2023, has generally rebounded from something of a sophomore slump in 2024. Nico Collins, who took Week 18 off, is one of the league\u2019s standout wideouts. Also, middling is just fine on offense if the defense is in its typical form \u2013 the Texans needing 23 points or fewer in half of their 12 wins. Another franchise in pursuit of its first championship \u2013 and first appearance in the AFC championship game \u2013 this could certainly be the year the Texans break through. And lest you\u2019ve forgotten, Houston isn\u2019t some ramshackle, Johnny-come-lately outfit emerging from the (previously) lowly AFC South. This is a seasoned squad under coach DeMeco Ryans, one that\u2019s reached the divisional round two years running and gave the dynastic Chiefs pretty much all they could handle at Arrowhead last January.<\/p>\n

7 (8): Houston Texans<\/a> (12-5)<\/p>\n

The Texans were oddly unconcerned about winning Sunday, when a victory would clinch the fifth seed and a much easier first-round matchup against the AFC North champs (which ended up being the Steelers). They won anyway, with Davis Mills leading what could be an important game-winning drive after the Colts took a late lead. The Texans can still make a run as a wild-card team, especially considering they\u2019re favored to win on the road in their playoff opener.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next: The Steelers<\/p>\n

Houston has won nine straight games and, in the first round of the playoffs, gets a vulnerable Pittsburgh team coming off a miracle win. A Texans defense that finished the regular season third in EPA (11.9 per 100 snaps) against Aaron Rodgers might be a mismatch at this point in the veteran quarterback\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

– Chad Graff and Josh Kendall<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Texans (No. 7; 12-5): Bring extra holy water to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Average Ranking: 6.29 (Last Week: 7.78)<\/p>\n

\"HOUSTON,<\/a><\/p>\n

HOUSTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 04: C.J. Stroud #7 of the Houston Texans celebrates with Woody Marks #27 after scoring a touchdown during the second quarter of the game against the Indianapolis Colts at NRG Stadium on January 04, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

It looks like everybody is drinking the Battle Red kool-aid, now! Frankly, I thought the season finale game against the Colts, when paired with the close win Houston had against the lowly Raiders a couple weeks ago, would be enough to scare some pundits out of calling Houston a top ten team. Maybe it was that week 17 Chargers victory, maybe it was something else, but regardless, it looks like everyone is starting to buy what Houston is selling as this is the highest they\u2019ve been ranked all season long. What a way to finish!<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Houston Texans rode up the power rankings as the season bucked and turned into an improbable AFC South championship, highlighted by rookie sensations CJ Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. In 2024, the Texans started the season with such an air of high expectations that you could fill a balloon with it\u2026which gradually deflated as disappointing losses mounted.<\/p>\n

This year has been very different for this new-era Houston Texans team. Already proven to be a good, but not great football team with the current leadership, the 2025 Texans had not earned enough trust from all pundits to hold back their suspicions of a radical rebuild of the entire offense surrounding CJ Stroud during the offseason. Some still saw the Texans as a top ten team capable of anything, while many others elected to place them in as neutral of a position as possible: #15 or #16 of 32.<\/p>\n

Those trepidatious rankings turned out to be Houston\u2019s high watermark for much of the season, as things got ugly in a hurry. An 0-3 start was enough for many authors to practically exile the Texans into the bottom quarter of the rankings, which felt justifiable after that 6-0 loss in Jacksonville. From that point on, however, the Texans began to assemble into a gradually more impressive football team by the week, creating plenty of discrepancies between authors each week of the power rankings. Just take a look at the week-by-week timeline I\u2019ve listed below of the Texans\u2019 average ranking based on nine different publications:<\/p>\n

Week 1: 13.00 (Beginning of season)<\/p>\n

Week 2: 16.45 (Following loss to Los Angeles Rams)<\/p>\n

Week 3: 18.67 (Following loss to Tampa Bay Buccaneers)<\/p>\n

Week 4: 23.33 (Following loss to Jacksonville Jaguars)<\/p>\n

Week 5: 22.11 (Following win over Tennessee Titans)<\/p>\n

Week 6: 18.56 (Following win over Baltimore Ravens)<\/p>\n

Week 8: 22.33 (Following loss to Seattle Seahawks)<\/p>\n

Week 9: 16.44 (Following win over San Francisco 49ers)<\/p>\n

Week 10: 19.56 (Following loss to Denver Broncos)<\/p>\n

Week 11: 16.89 (Following win over Jacksonville Jaguars)<\/p>\n

Week 12: 18.00 (Following win over Tennessee Titans)<\/p>\n

Week 13: 15.11 (Following win over Buffalo Bills)<\/p>\n

Week 14: 11.89 (Following win over Indianapolis Colts)<\/p>\n

Week 15: 9.11 (Following win over Kansas City Chiefs)<\/p>\n

Week 16: 7.67 (Following win over Arizona Cardinals)<\/p>\n

Week 17: 8.89 (Following win over Las Vegas Raiders)<\/p>\n

Week 18: 7.78 (Following win over Los Angeles Chargers)<\/p>\n

Week 19: 6.29 (Following win over Indianapolis Colts)<\/p>\n

It really was a rollercoaster ride all season long. From the precipitous fall down the rankings in the first month of the season, to the muddled middle as Houston navigated their rough midseason slate, to the gradual rise from week 12 onward, there was never a dull moment in this Texans season. Just taking a glance at the average between weeks 5 to 13 reveals how confusing this team was to everyone, with their ranking jumping up and down every week. After their defeat of the Bills and Colts, the national opinion of the Texans began to warm, marking the first steps of one of the greatest midseason resurgences I\u2019ve ever witnessed. Just from week 8 to to week 14, the Texans had seen their average rise 10 spaces, leap-frogging a third of the league in that timeframe.<\/p>\n

This dramatic rise in the latter half of the regular season is a testament to how great Houston\u2019s defense has been playing. This period of time encompasses Houston\u2019s crushing loss to the Seahawks, the entire Davis Mills interim period while CJ Stroud nursed a concussion suffered in week 9, numerous injuries to the offensive line and defensive backfield, as well as one of Houston\u2019s worst stretches on offense of the season. Throughout all of this tumult, Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter, Sheldon Rankins, Tim Settle Jr., and Tommy Togiai tore through opposing teams like a hot knife through butter. Behind them, LBs Azeez Al-Shaair and Henry To\u2019oTo\u2019o logged another great season together, crushing running backs against their shoulder pads. And then, in the secondary roamed a cornucopia of lanky, ball-hawk defenders such as CBs Derek Stingley and Kamari Lassiter, S Jalen Pitre, and S Calen Bullock.<\/p>\n

All of these players made game-winning plays in Houston\u2019s win streak, and they\u2019ll be looking to do more of the same against the Steelers Monday night. I dare QB Aaron Rodgers to try and drop back against a defensive line like this. I dare him to try his luck throwing the ball towards Derek Stingley Jr. or Kamari Lassiter. I dare RB Jaylen Warren to challenge Azeez Al-Shaair, I dare CB Joey Porter Jr. to try and cover Nico Collins, and I dare Patrick Queen to try and deal with RB Woody Marks. These Steelers players are all great players in their own right, but this Texans team is on fire, and it\u2019ll take a little more than a Monday night win-streak for the Steelers to contain them.<\/p>\n

I hope all the yinzers in Acrisure stadium will be ready for 60 minutes of grinding football action, highlighted by the Houston\u2019s defensive line controlling the game, and K Ka\u2019imi Fairbairn exercising those demons that haunt all field goal kickers that step foot inside that stadium. I expect an ugly game where Houston will win a close one, as they always do, 24-21<\/p>\n

What do you think, though? Will the Texans grind it out to their third playoff win of the CJ Stroud era, or will this game go wide right like that Ravens missed field goal? It was another great year of tallying the power rankings, let\u2019s hope that the Texans finish next year even higher than this year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the final week of the Houston Texans Power rankings! Every year, the power rankings create an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[7,221,253,63618,2368,6,222],"class_list":["post-661560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houston-texans-power-rankings","tag-houstontexans","tag-nfl","tag-texans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115854799701782849","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}