2012 Texans Watch-Limping Into The Playoffs

When the Texans beat the Tennessee Traitors 24-10 in Nashville on December 2, they were 11-1 and looking like a dominating lock for the AFC's number one seed. 

But after today's 28-16 loss in Indy to the Colts and wins by New England and Denver they slid all the way to the number three seed and a NFL Wild Card weekend deja vu matchup at Reliant Stadium on Saturday with the Cincinnati Bengals.

And my hometown NFL ballers have no one to blame for it but themselves after failing to handle their NFL business down the stretch dropping a winnable game against the Vikings last week and going 1-3 to make their playoff trek harder.   To add to the bitterness of this loss Texans fans feel, the all time franchise losing streak in Indianapolis has grown to 0-11.   

The Colts got their head coach Chuck Pagano back after leaving to battle a treatable form of leukemia and were playing at a more determined energy level than the Texans.   My hometown NFL ballers just needed a win to clinch the number one seed throughout the entire AFC playoffs, end that futility streak at Lucas Oil Stadium and its now demolished predecessor the RCA Dome.

The Texans trailed at halftime 14-6, but took the opening kickoff and scored their lone TD of the day on a 13 yard Arian Foster run to narrow the deficit to 14-13.   After the Bulls on Parade defense forced a three and out and they drove for the field goal to give them a 16-14 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter, the Texans promptly relinquished it after getting burned on a 101 kickoff return by Deji Karim to put the Colts up 21-16.

After putting the Colts in a 3rd and 23 hole,Andrew Luck dropped a deep ball between three Texan defenders to a streaking TY Hilton for a 70 yard TD strike to seal the Colts 28-16 win and make people in Denver and New England very happy and bring up bad memories and frustrating visions for longtime Houston NFL fans of failed Oilers playoff runs of the past. 

Oh well, at least the Cowboys will be watching us on TV in the playoffs again thanks to RG3 and the Redskins beating that butt.

The last NFL team to lose 3 out of their last 4 games but still make it to the Super Bowl was the 2009 New Orleans Saints.  We all know what happened once the playoffs started..    

This Texans team says they want to make positive Houston NFL history for this city.  We want to believe them and would love for it to happen.  

But if the Texans don't get their collective offensive and defensive acts together by Saturday and get back to being that dominating team we saw at the beginning of the season and know they have the talent to be, the only way they'll be watching the Super Bowl is on TV or buying a ticket to the Mercedes Benz Superdome despite their franchise record 12 wins.