Feb. 10, 2026, 10:55 a.m. CT<\/p>\n
We’re nearly 48 hours removed from the\u00a0Seattle Seahawks<\/a>‘ dominant outing in a 29-13 win<\/a> over the New England Patriots<\/a> in Super Bowl LX out at Levi Stadium.<\/p>\n What does that mean? Sights are set on 2027, and the odds of the Houston Texans<\/a> making a run next season toward Los Angeles for a shot at Super Bowl LXI.<\/p>\n The Texans<\/a> are well-equipped to make another postseason push for a championship next season, especially with 10 starters returning on defense, including Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Will Anderson Jr. On top of that, the Texans<\/a> return Pro Bowl wideout Nico Collins, defensive backs Kamari Lassiter and Derek Stingley Jr., running back Woody Marks and quarterback C.J. Stroud.<\/p>\n Are national pundits buying into a resurgence for the 2026 season, culminating in a trip to SoFi Stadium? The crew over at Bleacher Report<\/a> compiled their rankings as a staff and determined a consensus positioning when discussing the Texans as an AFC threat. The result? A No. 10 ranking, just behind the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> and right ahead of the Green Bay Packers<\/a>.<\/p>\n “In order for the Texans to take control of the AFC South and become a legitimate Super Bowl contender, C.J. Stroud and the team’s offense must get back on track,” Bleacher Report’s Brent Solbeski wrote<\/a>. “Stroud looked like a future elite quarterback during an impressive rookie season. The last two campaigns haven’t been as kind due to injuries and personnel issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Meanwhile, the Texans feature a Super Bowl-caliber defense right now. However, the team doesn’t play the caliber of complementary football that will allow it to reach that standard. In fact, Houston finished among the bottom half of the league in total offense this past season. The Texans must add\u00a0more pieces to their offense, while continuing to fortify their defense, and ensure an elite unit isn’t wasted.\u00a0“<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Everything should be prioritized for building around Stroud. The offensive line wasn’t terrible and showed improvement in Year 1 of the Nick Caley era, allowing just 23 sacks<\/a>. Having back wide receiver Tank Dell in the passing attack should elevate Stroud’s metrics, thus leading to more consistency in the passing game.<\/p>\n Free agency will be crucial toward elevating Houston’s overall status asa legitimate contender. Entering the offseason, Houston is projected to have less than $6 million, but that could expand to over $40 million with contract restructures and extensions with proven contracts.<\/p>\n Elsewhere around the league, the Seahawks<\/a> are ranked No. 1, the Patriots come in at No. 2 and the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> round out the top as the leaders toward a Super Bowl run at SoFi Stadium next fall. To view the entire 2026 way-too-early power rankings, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Texans own eight picks in the upcoming NFL draft, including four picks in the top 70.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 10, 2026, 10:55 a.m. CT We’re nearly 48 hours removed from the\u00a0Seattle Seahawks‘ dominant outing in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[95878,7,221,253,2368,6,96520,96521,96028,95882,95887,97087,96723,95892,95976,95953,101059,96682,95896,95888,96683,96685,95895,96681,96686,96680,96687,96684,96678,95899,96191,95977,96177,95902,95883,97971,100712,97222,222,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-744244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sstssportsnfltexans","15":"tag-sstsntexans","16":"tag-tagafc-south","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagamerican-football-conference","19":"tag-tagbreaking-news-social","20":"tag-tagderek-stingley-jr","21":"tag-tagespn-inc","22":"tag-taggreen-bay-packers","23":"tag-taghouston-texans","24":"tag-tagkamari-lassiter","25":"tag-tagmadden-nfl","26":"tag-tagnational-sports","27":"tag-tagnfl","28":"tag-tagnfl-draft","29":"tag-tagnfl-films","30":"tag-tagnfl-hub","31":"tag-tagnfl-junkies","32":"tag-tagnfl-mvp","33":"tag-tagnfl-overreactions","34":"tag-tagnfl-playoffs","35":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","36":"tag-tagnico-collins","37":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","38":"tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","39":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","40":"tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","41":"tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","42":"tag-tagsports-news","43":"tag-tagsuper-bowl-60","44":"tag-tagtank-dell","45":"tag-tagwill-anderson-jr","46":"tag-texans","47":"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\/744244","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=744244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}