The Houston Texans officially clinched their playoff spot with Saturday's 20-16 road victory against the Los Angeles Chargers. Prior to this year, they had never qualified for the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.
With the Texans, Chargers, and Buffalo Bills all sitting at 11-5, it's the Texans who currently find themselves in the top Wild Card spot due to their head-to-head sweep over the other two teams.
There is still a simple path for the Texans to win the AFC South, with the Jacksonville Jaguars sitting just ahead of them at 12-4. For the Texans to win the division in Week 18, they need to beat the Indianapolis Colts, and the Tennessee Titans need to beat the Jaguars.
The latter, of course, is unlikely. But a 12-5 Texans team would indeed own the tiebreaker over a 12-5 Jaguars team due to a better AFC South division record (5-1 vs. 4-2). The two teams split their head-to-head series.
But even with a Jaguars win, the Texans would still control their own destiny for the No. 5 seed, since they own the head-to-head tiebreaker over both the Chargers and the Bills.
And at any rate, the Jaguars winning the AFC South would set up something that has never before happened in NFL history: the Houston Texans would be in the playoffs as a Wild Card team, whether as the No. 5 seed, the No. 6 seed, or the No. 7 seed.
Texans in line for first ever Wild Card playoff appearance?
In the Texans' first 23 years of existence, all eight of their playoff appearances came after they won the AFC South, and all eight of those appearances were either as the No. 3 seed or the No. 4 seed; they have never had a first-round bye.
And yes, as Texans fans know all too well, whenever Houston has qualified for postseason play, NRG Stadium has always been slotted in as the host of the 4:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. CT) opening playoff game on Saturday of Wild Card Weekend.
Generally speaking, the AFC South doesn't usually send more than one team to the playoffs; this year is a bit of an anomaly. The Texans have won the division with seven losses on four occasions, and in only three of their previous playoff appearances has an AFC South division rival gotten in as a Wild Card team.
On two other occasions, the Texans missed the playoffs as the second-place team, and they had seven losses both times. They have not finished second in the division since 2014.
But regardless of their seed or where they have to play on Wild Card Weekend, this year's team is arguably the best in franchise history and should feel pretty good about their chances of making some noise in the playoffs.
Texans perfectly positioned for deepest playoff run ever
While it's always nice to win the division rather than finish second, perhaps if this trend ends, the Texans can end another one as well.
Yes, the Texans have only ever gotten into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed or the No. 4 seed, and they have always hosted a Wild Card game. But they have never won a playoff road game; they have never played a road Wild Card game, and all six of their Divisional Round appearances have come on the road.
Their +101 point differential through their first 16 games is better than all but one of their point differentials during the 16-game era, the exception being their franchise-best +103 mark in 2011, and a lot of that has to do with their NFL-best defense. Their 265 points allowed (16.56 points per game) is even fewer than their previous best of 278 (17.38 per game) from 2011.
So can this season be the first in which they reach the AFC Championship Game – or even the Super Bowl?
With 11 wins in 13 games, including eight in a row, following their 0-3 start, anything is possible, even if it takes multiple road wins to get there.