A hard fought game goes the other way again.
There are days when you know how everything is going to turn out. The division round between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs was one of those days. All of the best laid plans of mice and men were not going to change the outcome of this one. Give your hometown team all of the credit in the world. They played hard and made some big plays, but they just didn’t have enough to get it done.
The final score will say that the Chiefs won 23-14, but this game really ended in the third quarter. C.J. Stroud, Joe Mixon, and company led a gritty 15 play drive that threatened to tie the game. For the second time in a month, the Texans missed the point after attempt. For the second time in a month, the miss deflated the squad and they just didn’t have the energy to finish the job.
It wasn’t through lack of effort. The defense threatened to force them to punt in the next possession, but the second bogus personal foul call of the game extended the drive and drove a nail through the coffin. Credit in this game goes to the Texans defense for their maximum effort for 60 minutes. The score may have looked lopsided but, this game was about a few plays in either direction that just went the wrong way.
On offense, Stroud played well when he had time. Joe Mixon was a consistent force on the ground as he scored the team’s only touchdown. There just weren’t enough big plays to get it done and there were too many blown blocks to overcome. In many ways, the game on both sides of the ball was indicative of what the Texans were about all season. Make no mistake, it would have been enough to beat most teams. The Chiefs aren’t most teams.
The long work of the offseason commences immediately. There will be questions about C.J. Stroud, the offensive line, depth in the receiving core, and the offensive coordinator himself, but those decisions can wait a day. This is yet another time when the squad just didn’t have enough to get into the NFL version of the final four. Let’s hear from you. What were your thoughts on the game?