Houston Texans looking for rare win over San Francisco 49ers in Week 17

It has been a long time since the Houston Texans defeated the 49ers.

It has been a rare feat for the Houston Texans to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in a regular-season NFL game as it has happened just once on four chances in the history of the Texans franchise.

The Texans are 1-3 overall all-time when facing the 49ers, and this Sunday will be just the fifth meeting between the two franchises, with the game taking place at Levi’s Stadium.

Houston hasn’t defeated the 49ers since 2009 (by a 24-21 score in Houston), and back then players like Matt Schaub, Steve Slaton, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels, and Kevin Walter all played offense for the Texans.

That win was so long ago that Brian Cushing led the Texans in tackles with eight on that October day, and Mario Williams had a sack.

Houston Texans: Will 2 rookie quarterbacks face each other?

Looking forward to this Sunday if it is a battle between rookie quarterbacks, how much fun would that be?

The Texans are scheduled to start Davis Mills, who has improved his overall play in recent games, and if the 49ers are unable to have Jimmy Garoppolo, who didn’t practice Thursday because of a thumb injury, it will be rookie Trey Lance under center.

In three games where he’s thrown a pass, Lance is 25-of-48 for 354 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception. He last threw a pass in Week 5.

Mills has had a unique season where he was forced to play in Week 2, went 0-6 as a starter, went back to the bench when Tyrod Taylor was healthy, was put in a game due to poor play by Taylor, and now has been named the starter over a healthy Taylor.

For the entire ’21 season, Mills has thrown for 2,200 yards with 12 touchdown passes and nine interceptions, with a 2-7 record as a starter.

In Weeks 14-16 Mills – since being named starter over Taylor – has five touchdown passes and just one interception. He has two more games, including this week against the 49ers, to prove he’s who should stay the starter for the franchise moving forward.

With what is on the line for Mills, don’t expect the Texans to fold, but this game is important to the 49ers as well because they still have hopes of making the playoffs.

So, the Houston Texans have their best shot since ’09 to win a game against San Francisco, and a big aspect of this game will be the performance of the rookie quarterback Mills as he looks to lead the Texans to their fifth win of the season.