3 missed opportunities for the Texans in season-ending loss to Chiefs

The Texans' season has come to an end.

AFC Divisional Playoffs: Houston Texans v Kansas City Chiefs
AFC Divisional Playoffs: Houston Texans v Kansas City Chiefs | David Eulitt/GettyImages

The Houston Texans' season has come to a bitter end, as the good guys fell by a score of 23 to 14 to the Kansas City Chiefs. It was a frustrating loss for the Texans considering they outgained the Chiefs in first downs, yardage, and time of possession.

Many will point to the two controversial calls against the Texans as a big reason why Houston lost this game. While those calls did eventually lead to 10 total points for the Chiefs, other factors went into why the Texans lost this game.

Yes, poor officiating aside, the Texans had opportunities to win this game and they failed to put the Chiefs away, even when they had the villains on the ropes. Let's dive into three missed opportunities from the Texans' soul-crushing loss to the Chiefs.

Fairbairn not coming through when needed

While the offensive line had one of the worst days for the Texans, it wasn't exactly a picnic for kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn either. Fairbairn had a bit of a down year in 2024 and that carried over into the divisional round game, as he missed his second field goal attempt of the day and later missed on an extra-point attempt as well.

Of course, the worst moment of the evening came when Fairbairn's field goal late in the game was blocked. Converting there would have made it a one-score game and while it was still going to be tough to win, the Texans still would have had a shot.

All in all, Fairbairn's misses cost the Texans seven points. It's a totally different ball game if he hits even just one of those three attempts that he whiffed on.

The 4th-and-long disaster

While the game was still somewhat within reach in the final minutes, it truly felt over when the Texans went for it on 4th-and-10 with under 10 minutes remaining and failed to get the first down. Sure, there was plenty of time on the clock but at that point, the Chiefs defense was starting to blitz C.J. Stroud heavily and the young quarterback wasn't able to handle the pressure.

Houston had gotten the game to within one point (it would have been tied had Fairbairn not missed the extra-point) and then Kansas City went on to increase their lead (aided by one of the controversial calls I touched on earlier). With the Chiefs up 20-12 and bleeding a lot of clock on their previous touchdown drive, the Texans weren't guaranteed to get the ball back so going for it on 4th-and-10 wasn't necessarily a bad decision.

Houston had the ball at the KC 40-yard-line and, as time was ticking down, they needed to be aggressive. No one will fault them for going for it there. What fans will fault DeMeco Ryans and the offense for is that they rushed getting the snap off rather than taking a timeout. What followed was an ugly play that resulted in Stroud getting sacked for a huge loss and the Chiefs taking over on downs.

While the Chiefs did go 3-and-out on their next possesion, this was a huge missed opportunity for the Texans. If they convert there and even get a field goal out of the possession, they're right back in the game.

Not continuing to run the ball

The Texans offensive line might not have done a good job protecting Stroud but they were able to open up running lanes for Joe Mixon. In fact, Houston had run the ball incredibly well in the game and with the lack of pass protection for Stroud, it felt as though had they kept handing the rock off to Mixon or Dameon Pierce, they might have had a better chance of winning this game.

Not only did Mixon have a great game (88 rushing yards and a touchdown off 18 carries) but Stroud was running all over Kansas City's defense. Stroud finished the game with 42 rushing yards off of six carries. At the end of the game, Houston had racked up 149 yards on the ground while averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

This isn't to say that Stroud was doing badly but rather that running the ball consistently would have tired the Chiefs out more and that would have favored Houston. It'd also have made it easier for him whenever he did drop back to pass because the Chiefs might not have been expecting it as much.

There will be a lot of "coulda, woulda, shoulda" talk from Texans fans following this loss and for good reason. The Texans' first divisional round win was right there for the taking but, as fans have grown accustomed to, another trip to the AFC Championship Game slipped away.

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