Forgive me for stating the obvious, but sometimes it's the most obvious points that need to be restated every once in a while so they actually stay obvious. So with that said, here goes: It's really difficult to make the Super Bowl.
Not only do just two teams play in the biggest game in sports each year, but to even get to that point where the Lombardi Trophy is one single win away, you need to be incredibly talented, incredibly resilient, and maybe above everything else, incredibly lucky. And for the record, that's not just the case for this year because the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are a surprising tandem to end the season as the final two teams left standing. That's been the case every single year since 'The Super Bowl' was a term freshly coined by Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt in 1966.
The 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 1989 San Francisco 49ers, the 1992 Dallas Cowboys, the 2014 New England Patriots... there was a degree of luck, even if unseen by the naked eye, that helped each of these all-time great teams reach the Super Bowl. Saying this doesn't diminish anybody's historical standing. It's just the year-in, year-out stone cold truth.
So I say all of this and now, as a fan of the Houston Texans, you are likely asking yourself, 'What the hell does this have to do with my favorite team?'
Well, if we can agree that to some extent at least, every team that makes the Super Bowl is assisted by varying degrees of luck, then it's fair to assume that a team that -- A) Boasts one of the best defenses in the NFL, B) Won 12 games during the regular season despite starting 0-3, and C) Didn't necessarily have a ton of luck along the way this season, and D) Played both Super Bowl participants reasonably tough in the months leading up to the big game -- should feel pretty solid not just with the success of their 2025 campaign, but also about their standing heading into the 2026 NFL season.
We're going to be focusing on points C and D moving, because points A and B are not only self-explanatory, but were primarily thrown in there to illustrate that the Texans were both talented enough and resilient enough to have competed for a Super Bowl title this year.
Now is a 19-point 4th quarter comeback lucky? To some extent, yes. Were the Texans lucky that Indianapolis Colts starting quarterback Daniel Jones played multiple weeks with a fracture fibula before suffering a season-ending achilles tear, submarining a Colts team that looked like it was going to cruise to an AFC South title? Of course.
But it's worth mentioning that Texans and the San Francisco 49ers were the only two teams that made the Playoffs whose starting quarterback was forced to miss at least three games due to injury. Additionally, the Texans lost two interior defensive linemen to season-ending injuries during the regular season, didn't have Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon or second-leading receiver Tank Dell at all during the season, had starters along the offensive line miss multiple games throughout the year, and were without Pro Bowl receiver Nico Collins for their Divisional Round loss to the New England Patriots.
When we're discussing the good luck of the Houston Texans, it's important not to forget all of the bad luck that befell them as well. It's also important to remember that even though their losses to the New England Patriots (this past Sunday) and Seattle Seahaws (back in Week 7) came by an average of 10 points per game, the Texans had various opportunities to seize control in the 2nd half of each of these two games.
And what's interesting is, because turnovers are often considered a 'lucky' stat -- which I strongly disagree with, by the way -- against the Seahawks, the Texans won the turnover margin by 3, but against New England, Houston lost it by 2. By that logic, isn't it unlucky that the Texans, who committed the second-fewest turnovers in the NFL (12) during the regular season, committed nearly half as many (5) in their 28-16 loss to the New England Patriots just eight days ago?
Rather than sifting through all of the details and debating about who had the most luck or the least luck, I'd instead like to focus on the fact that the Texans are not at all far off from playing in the Super Bowl. Not only has this team made the AFC Divisional Round three consecutive years, but they've proven time and time again to be able to play with and defeat the best teams in football.
Now that admittedly doesn't do much as a consolation prize for the Texans or the fans of the team, but what it does do is confirm that Houston has the blueprint to compete and contend at the absolute highest level. Not many other teams in the NFL can make that claim, so as you settle in to watch Super Bowl LIX on February 8, at least you can hang your hat on that.