Sports Illustrated's bold Texans prediction would be a huge bummer

Today, Sports Illustrated revealed 100 Bold Predictions for the NFL season. 100! If you thought that 100 bold predictions was too many bold predictions and that it'd essentially water down what otherwise would have been an interesting idea, you'd be right! That's exactly what happened. But, like the diligent content creator that I am, I combed through all 100 looking for the Texans. And reader, you're probably going to wish I didn't (I sure do).

That's because one of their biggest Texans prediction is a huge bummer. So much so that, once you read it, you'll sorta wonder what the point of reading it was. You were having a good day. Here's some of what they said.

Sports Illustrated's bold Texans prediction would be a huge bummer

SI: The Houston Texans will not increase their win total (10) from 2023

I love the Texans, but their schedule rips this year and it’s going to be hard to replicate previous success even through the clear and obvious upgrades they made this offseason. This is not an anti–C.J. Stroud or DeMeco Ryans take. It is a pro-parity take, though, and when a team upshifts into a schedule that, after Week 7, becomes a bit of a minefield, there’s no telling what might happen.

Sigh, fine. There's nothing inherently wrong with the idea that up-and-coming teams take a small step back in "Year 2" of their ascention, only because it happens a bunch. Their schedule *will* be harder, and people aren't going to be sleeping on them anymore. But this is definitely not the vibes that anyone's trying to bring into the Texans' season, and so we're going to get mad at SI about it. It's so annoying when national media members don't write exactly what we want them to write. Just tell me what I want to hear, which is that the Texans will probably never lose a game again. Now there's a bold prediction.