The Houston Texans clinched their third straight playoff appearance by holding on for a 20-16 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday at SoFi Stadium. The Chargers’ loss wrapped up the AFC West title for the Denver Broncos, while the Texans’ win eliminated the Indianapolis Colts from playoff contention.
Houston has now made the postseason every year since 2023, when it hired head coach DeMeco Ryans and drafted quarterback C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 pick. The Texans won the AFC South the past two seasons and remain in the mix for another division title. They’ll need to beat the Colts in Week 18 and have the Jacksonville Jaguars lose one of their final two games to capture the division crown. The Jaguars face the Colts on the road Sunday and host the Tennessee Titans in Week 18.
Either way, Houston (11-5) is postseason bound, and the entire seven-team AFC playoff field could be set by Saturday night if the Baltimore Ravens lose to the Green Bay Packers, which would clinch the AFC North for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Chargers (11-5) entered Saturday’s game in control of their own path to the AFC West title and still had a shot at the No. 1 seed. With a win over Houston, they could’ve set up their Week 18 game against the Broncos as a winner-take-all showdown for the division. Instead, Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers will have to settle for a second straight wild-card appearance.
Houston wasted no time taking control on Saturday. On the third play from scrimmage, Stroud went deep on third-and-1 and connected with rookie Jayden Higgins on a 75-yard touchdown pass for his longest completion of the season. A drive later, Stroud connected with another rookie, Jaylin Noel, on a 43-yard touchdown. At that point, Stroud was 4 for 4 for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
The Chargers defense finally settled in, and L.A. had a chance to get back into the game late in the first half. Trailing 14-3, quarterback Justin Herbert connected on a 60-yard pass to Quentin Johnston to get inside the red zone. On the next play, however, rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden dropped a pass at the 1-yard line that went right into the hands of Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for an interception.
Stroud returned the favor by throwing an interception to Elijah Molden, but the Chargers couldn’t take advantage as Pro Bowl kicker Cameron Dicker missed a 32-yard field goal. It was his first career miss from under 40 yards.
Houston added a field goal to its lead in the third quarter, and Los Angeles finally found the end zone when Herbert hit Gadsden for an 11-yard touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter. That drive was highlighted by a 28-yard scramble by Herbert on third-and-14.
The Texans extended the lead with another field goal in the fourth quarter before the Chargers went on another scoring drive. A pair of defensive penalties — including an illegal contact that wiped out a third-down sack — helped keep the drive alive before Omarion Hampton scored on a 5-yard run. But Dicker, who is the NFL’s career leader in field goal accuracy, missed the PAT to keep the score 20-16.
Back on defense, the Chargers nearly got another chance to complete a comeback when they sacked Stroud on third-and-9 with 2:32 to go, but an illegal contact penalty on L.A. gave Houston a first down. They were then able to run out the clock for the win.
Texans still looking for offensive rhythm
This Houston offense seems to have such potential, but it still hasn’t found enough of a rhythm week over week. That was the case again for the first three quarters on Saturday. After back-to-back coverage busts led to consecutive explosive passing touchdowns by Stroud and the Texans (both one-on-one shots off routes that broke toward the middle of the field, without help in the area), the Chargers defense adjusted to make their coverage cloudier with more deep help or rotating personnel through the medium/deep middle of the field. Stroud was intercepted a second time in the first half in part because of that cloudiness by L.A.’s defenders, who came down over the top of his throw (his first interception was in part because of a batted pass).
It’s a credit to Houston’s red zone defense (and some luck courtesy of a rare Dicker missed field goal) that the game wasn’t evened out by halftime due to those two Stroud interceptions. The explosive plays were great, but the two touchdowns combined for almost half of Houston’s net first-half offense — a feast there, and mostly famine and turnovers otherwise for this offense. Clinching the playoffs is great, but help your best-in-class defense a little, would ya?! — Jourdan Rodrigue, senior NFL writer
Herbert’s heroics not enough
Herbert did all he could to lead the Chargers back into the game in the second half. He was evading constant pressure. He was using his legs. He was pushing the ball downfield when he could. On one drive in the third quarter, he even converted a third down while in the firm grasp of a Texans rusher. Herbert led two touchdown drives in the second half to keep the Chargers in this one. It still was not enough, and the Chargers lost for the first time since Week 11. The division is now out of reach. — Daniel Popper, Chargers beat writer
Justin Herbert did his best to keep the Chargers in this game, but it wasn’t enough. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Houston, please help your defense
On paper, the Texans crossed 100 rushing yards with about 6:30 left in the third quarter, and both Woody Marks and Jawhar Jordan were averaging a respective 4.3 and 4.5 yards per carry to that point. However, Houston’s offense kept getting into confounding third-and-long situations and never felt very efficient. While Stroud did throw a gutsy deep shot for a touchdown on the third play of the game on third-and-1, the Texans faced third-and-5 or longer on eight of their 11 third-down attempts to that point in the game, and converted only three of the 11.
This is a Texans defense that mostly did what it always does, aside from Herbert’s hero-ball drive of the third quarter (what are you going to do about that?) and a few costly penalties on L.A.’s fourth-quarter scoring drive. I’m sure I sound like a broken record at this point, but one of the NFL’s top defenses needs at least a modicum of help from its offense. — Rodrigue
Uncharacteristic breakdowns for L.A.
The Chargers defense had two coverage breakdowns early in this game. One led to a 75-yard touchdown from Stroud to Higgins on the opening drive of the game. The second led to the 43-yard touchdown to Noel. They tightened up considerably after those two early drives, but in what was always going to be a defensive battle, those early mistakes proved too costly to overcome.
Los Angeles had only allowed two passing touchdowns all season on throws that traveled 30 or more air yards, according to TruMedia. They allowed two on the first two drives. The Chargers fell behind, and their offensive line is not in a position to play effectively in that game script. — Popper
Chargers’ repeated special teams gaffes
Special teams errors loomed large in this game. Dicker missed the 32-yard field goal at the end of the half and the PAT in the fourth quarter. Those were just two of the mistakes, though. Punter J.K. Scott had two poor kicks in the second half. The first was a shank that went 22 yards. Houston took over in Chargers territory and kicked a field goal. The second went 34 yards out of bounds. The Texans took over near midfield and again kicked a field goal. Scott’s punts led to six Texans points. Dicker’s misses took four points off the board. That is a 10-point swing, very difficult to overcome in a defensive game when field position was at a premium. — Popper
