{"id":669682,"date":"2026-01-11T20:51:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:51:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/669682\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T20:51:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T20:51:14","slug":"experts-make-picks-for-sundays-week-18-game-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/669682\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts make picks for Sunday’s Week 18 game"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 11, 2026, 12:09 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

The Houston Texans<\/a> are looking to make history on Monday night when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers in the wild-card round.<\/p>\n

The reason it would be history? Houston’s never played a wild-card round game outside of NRG Stadium. And a win would mark the first victory away from home in franchise history.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Texans<\/a>\u2019\u00a0wild-card round game<\/a>\u00a0will air on ESPN at 7 p.m. CT on Monday night. According to BETMGM, the\u00a0Texans<\/a>\u00a0open as a 3.5-point favorite over the Colts, with the over\/under set at 41.<\/p>\n

Sitting at 12-5 following a 38-30 win over the\u00a0Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, the\u00a0Texans<\/a>\u00a0are in great shape for a potential third straight wild-card round win. The Texans are also on the league’s longest winning streak, rattling off nine straight to close out the campaign.<\/p>\n

As for the Steelers, they’re looking to finally win a playoff game for the first time since 2016. Aaron Rodgers hasn’t thrown an interception since early November, while the team closed out the regular season winning five of their last six games, including a 28-26 win over the Ravens<\/a> to clinch a division title on Sunday Night Football.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Who are the experts riding with between the Steelers and Texans<\/a>? Let’s take a look and see which team is expected to win on Monday night at Acrisure Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"JanMichael Middlehurst-Schwartz: Texans<\/a>Jarrett Bell: SteelersNick Brinkerhoff: SteelersChris Bumbaca: TexansNate Davis: TexansTyler Dragon: Texans\"DecAli Bhanpuri: TexansBrooke Cersosimo: TexansDan Parr: TexansGennaro Filice: TexansTom Blair: Texans\"NovStephania Bell: TexansMatt Bowen: TexansMike Clay: SteelersJeremy Fowler: SteelersDan Graziano: TexansKalyn Kahler: TexansPamela Maldonado: SteelersEric Moody: TexansJason Reid: TexansLindsey Thiry: TexansSam Wickersham: Texans\"NovPete Prisco: SteelersCody Benjamin: TexansJared Dubin: TexansRyan Wilson: SteelersJohn Breech: TexansTyler Sullivan: TexansDave Richard: TexansJamey Eisenberg: Texans\"NovAlbert Breer: TexansClare Brennan: TexansMitch Goldich: TexansGilberto Manzano: TexansConor Orr: TexansJohn Pluym: TexansMatt Verderame: TexansAndrew Brandt: TexansClaire Brennan: Texans\"NovGary Davenport: TexansBrad Gagnon: SteelersIan Hanford: SteelersKris Knox: TexansMaurice Moton: SteelersWes O\u2019Donnell: SteelersBrent Sobleski: Texans\"AugTexans Wire<\/p>\n

Cole Thompson: Texans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 11, 2026, 12:09 p.m. CT The Houston Texans are looking to make history on Monday night when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[95878,2005,7,2004,392,2381,6,96520,96521,96675,97396,96028,95882,95898,97087,95892,97397,95953,95903,96682,97022,95888,96683,96685,95895,96681,96686,96680,96687,96684,95906,96721,96177,95883,1461,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-669682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-colts","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-indianapolis","12":"tag-indianapolis-colts","13":"tag-indianapoliscolts","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfltexans","16":"tag-sstsntexans","17":"tag-tagaaron-rodgers","18":"tag-tagafc-championship-game","19":"tag-tagafc-south","20":"tag-tagamerican-football","21":"tag-tagbaltimore-ravens","22":"tag-tagbreaking-news-social","23":"tag-tagespn-inc","24":"tag-taghouston","25":"tag-taghouston-texans","26":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","27":"tag-tagmadden-nfl","28":"tag-tagnate-davis","29":"tag-tagnfl","30":"tag-tagnfl-draft","31":"tag-tagnfl-films","32":"tag-tagnfl-hub","33":"tag-tagnfl-junkies","34":"tag-tagnfl-mvp","35":"tag-tagnfl-overreactions","36":"tag-tagnfl-playoffs","37":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","38":"tag-tagoverall-positive","39":"tag-tagpittsburgh","40":"tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","41":"tag-tagsports-news","42":"tag-tx","43":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669682","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=669682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}