For the first time in their 24-year history as an NFL franchise, the Houston Texans are set to play a road Wild Card game, as their ninth all-time playoff appearance is their first as a Wild Card team, rather than as the AFC South champions.
Of course, they are the lone remaining AFC South team in the postseason picture following the Jacksonville Jaguars' elimination on Sunday afternoon at the hands of Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, but that's a subject for another day.
The Texans, the No. 5 seed in the AFC, are set to take on the No. 4 seed AFC North champion Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. The winner is set to travel to New England to take on the No. 2 seed AFC East champion Patriots next Sunday, following New England's win on Sunday night over the No. 7 seed Los Angeles Chargers.
We've heard it all in the buildup to this game, from the Texans' nine-game winning streak, to the Steelers' 23-game winning streak in home Monday night games (which, ironically, includes a loss, for whatever that's worth), to the Texans' all-time 0-6 record in road playoff games.
But why haven't we heard much about the history of Texans-Steelers matchups, aside from a historic deep-dive into the bizarre game the two teams played back in Houston's inaugural season?
A (very brief) history of Texans-Steelers games
Among games featuring two current AFC teams, no matchup has been contested fewer times (eight) than this one. In fact, no intraconference matchup in the entire NFL, including all possible NFC matchups, has been contested on fewer occasions than Texans-Steelers.
Houston and Pittsburgh have met just eight times, including in that aforementioned 2002 game in the Texans' first season in the NFL. With how the NFL's scheduling method works, AFC South teams only play against other AFC North teams once every three years, unless they happen to finish in the same position in their division standings the previous season.
Houston and Pittsburgh have only ever lined up on that three-year cycle, since even when they've finished in the same position within their divisions, they were already due to meet again on the regular cycle the following year anyway.
The Texans are 3-5 all-time against Pittsburgh, and that includes 1-3 on the road, with that lone win coming back in that bizarre 2002 matchup. One of those three losses was a Monday night loss back in 2014.
Their most recent meeting, however, was dominated by the Texans. In C.J. Stroud's rookie season, they handed the Steelers one of the worst losses of the Mike Tomlin era, a 30-6 defeat at NRG Stadium. The two teams have not met in Pittsburgh since the 2020 season, when the Steelers knocked off a Deshaun Watson-led Texans team by a score of 28-21.
Full Texans-Steelers history
Season | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|
2002 | Pittsburgh | Texans win, 24-6 |
2005 | Houston | Steelers win, 27-7 |
2008 | Pittsburgh | Steelers win, 38-17 |
2011 | Houston | Texans win, 17-10 |
2014 | Pittsburgh | Steelers win, 30-23 |
2017 | Houston | Steelers win, 34-6 |
2020 | Pittsburgh | Steelers win, 28-21 |
2023 | Houston | Texans win, 30-6 |
The Texans entered this year's postseason as one of just two playoff teams that won a playoff game in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 postseasons. The other, the Bills, already extended their streak. Can Houston do the same on Monday night?
Live coverage of Monday night's game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. CT on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.