The Texans' offense came up short in the Divisional round after taking a big step back in 2024.
The Houston Texans lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round. Despite a game effort in which Houston entered the fourth quarter down 13-12, Texans’ head coach DeMeco Ryans felt discouraged after the playoff defeat. Unfortunately, Houston’s offense was unable to score in the final frame, with the only fourth quarter points coming on a safety the Chiefs took intentionally to run off valuable seconds rather than punt deep in their own territory.
The Texans’ offense has struggled all year under second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. Following Houston’s loss to Kansas City, Ryans refused to elaborate on Slowik’s offense. “I saw some areas of growth throughout the year,” the coach simply said, per the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan M Alexander on X. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Last year, in Stroud and Slowik’s first season, the Texans finished as the 12th best overall offense in the league. This year, the team regressed, ranking 22nd overall on offense. And Stroud struggled in 2024. After winning Offensive Rookie of the Year the previous season, the sophomore signal caller saw drops in completion percentage, passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating, despite playing two more games in 2024.
Still, the Texans have won the AFC South in back-to-back seasons and got a Wild Card round win each year before losing their Divisional matchups, making Stroud and Slowik 2-2 in the playoffs. While Houston’s offense unquestionably regressed this season, Slowik received the backing of Texans’ GM Nick Caserio when he came under fire earlier this year.
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Slowik has largely been credited with helping to develop Stroud after the team selected the QB with the second overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Ohio State. Even after taking a step back in year two, Slowik remains a coveted offensive coach as the New York Jets requested an interview with the coordinator for their head coaching vacancy.
Although there was plenty of blame to go around for the Texans’ loss to the Chiefs, including a nightmare game by kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, Kansas City did benefit from multiple controversial calls. Chiefs’ superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes got two questionable unnecessary roughness calls that helped doom the Texans in what was a close game for the first three quarters.
The referees involved were grilled by Houston reporters and ultimately broke their silence on the thought process that went into giving Mahomes those pivotal penalty yards. Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports went as far as to say Mahomes was flopping for calls. Either way, the Chiefs got the benefit of the doubt from the refs – as they so often do – and the Texans are heading home with a long offseason to think about what they could have done differently.
