C.J. Stroud #7 (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
The fact that it's hard for most to recall the last time the Texans hosted a primetime Sunday night football game tells a deeper story about the state of the AFC South franchise.
The Texans, the lone team in the division to never reach an AFC championship game, haven't had a Sunday night game since Dec. 2, 2019 when former Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson outdueled the great Tom Brady with three touchdown passes and caught one on an option play from wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
Fast forward to now and the Texans have emerged as a trendy Super Bowl contender after winning the division title last season and engineering a massive turnaround year led by Pro Bowl quarterback and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud and coach DeMeco Ryans, the runner-up for NFL Coach of the Year.
Now, the 1-0 Texans have been installed as a seven-point favorite over the Chicago Bears this week.
Veteran long snapper Jon Weeks, the longest-tenured member of the Texans voted a team captain by his teammates, has seen the growth from the lean years at the end of the Bill O'Brien era and the one-and-done tenures of Lovie Smith and David Culley. The Texans' outlook has changed dramatically.
"It's great, man," Weeks told RG. "It's exciting. Houston is going to be rocking. A night game in Houston is going to be a fantastic thing. I think everyone is excited and ready for the challenge.
"It's a very closeknit team. Guys like each other. That's all you ask for: guys who care about winning, care about each other. That usually leads to good things."
Coming off a 29-27 road victory over the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, this marks the home regular-season opener for the Texans. After an 11-8-1 season, the Texans invested heavily in the roster.
That included a two-year, $51 million contract for Houston area native and Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter, trading for Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who caught two touchdowns against the Colts, and Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon, who rushed for 159 yards and one score on a career-high 30 carries at Indianapolis.
And the Texans plan to have NRG Stadium's roof open for this night football game. The stadium was damaged by Hurricane Beryl and is nearly repaired with plans for a full repair by a Week 4 home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"I'm very excited," Hunter told RG. "It's been a while since I've seen this stadium with the roof open. I'm excited to go out there and play in front of my family, my teammates and my coaches.
"We played together as a team against the Colts. There's a lot to improve on, which is a good thing. The biggest thing is we've done what we needed to do this week to prepare ourselves for the weekend."
The Texans Have Been Selected
A year ago, the Houston Texans weren’t even an afterthought when the NFL decision-makers planned out the most prestigious part of their schedule.
Now, it’s an entirely different story altogether. The Texans are being featured in four primetime games, plus a Christmas Day afternoon game on Netflix against the Baltimore Ravens. The Texans had zero primetime games a year ago, except for a flexed night game against the Colts that clinched the division title and a playoff spot.
This is the first of two Sunday night NBC games for the Texans, who won a playoff game last season over the Cleveland Browns, including a Nov. 10 home game against the Detroit Lions.
The Texans travel to face the New York Jets and former NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers in an Amazon Prime Thursday night game on Oct. 31. And they play the Dallas Cowboys on the road in a Monday night game in a battle for who’s the top NFL team in Texas.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Texans principal owner Cal McNair said.
The Texans have six nationally televised games, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame game against the Bears on Aug. 1 in Canton, Ohio. That’s a new franchise record.
The Texans have been the talk of the NFL this offseason.
“Our guys have earned the right to get more nationally televised games,” Ryans said. “We’ve shown that we’ve been a good team this past year, and we’re looking forward to continuing what we’ve done, but our guys have to go and earn it again this year. I think they’ve earned the right for more viewers to watch them.
“We have shown that we are a good team this past year. We are looking forward to continuing to showcase what we have done, but our guys have to continue earning the right to have more viewers watch them.”
The Texans have a demanding schedule after improving from 3-13-1 in 2022 to 11-8 last season. They have the fourth-toughest schedule statistically.
“We’re excited to go play ball,” Ryans said. “I don’t care where it is, when it is, our team will be ready to go. We’re excited about every game.”
The seven returning playoff teams the Texans face include the Chiefs, Bills, Cowboys, Dolphins, Lions, Packers and Ravens.
The Texans doled out a maximum combined $212 million over the full term of their free agent signings, players acquired by trade and re-signings.
In the wake of a major spending spree for a franchise that engineered a dramatic turnaround last season, a lot is expected from a squad that has rapidly emerged as a Super Bowl contender as is embracing the heightened outlook.
After years of instability and the firings of former general manager and coach Bill O’Brien, coach David Culley and coach Lovie Smith, the Texans are well-positioned.
“We only want to win the next game,” Cal McNair said. “We’re going to work hard on and off the field, and really put a great team on the field and have a bunch of leaders at every position and go out and play together and have fun doing it and go win.”
It’s a new day in Houston.
The Texans could be in for an elongated window to contend with Stroud playing under a rookie contract for at least this year and next year before he’s eligible for a mega contract extension.
“He’s not just a quarterback,” Hannah McNair said. “He’s a leader. When you have that high-caliber quarterback, the only way to be great and be great for a long time, is to have a leader at that quarterback spot.”
The Texans Are Pumped For Sunday Night Football
It's a moment for the franchise, which has brand-new uniforms, including white-on-white jerseys and pants for this game.
“I’m ready,” said wide receiver Tank Dell, a former University of Houston standout. “I’m built for things like this. I’m built for them type of games. I’m ready. That’s all I can say.”
The Texans are excited, and rightfully so.
“Wherever we play, whoever we play, we’re just excited to get another opportunity to get better and play football," Ryans said. “So to have the opportunity to play here in our home stadium on Sunday night, we know our fans will be excited about it. Our players, they are excited about it.”
Stroud led the NFL in passing yards per contest and touchdown-to-interception ratio last season as a rookie, joining Tom Brady and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks in league history to hit those benchmarks in the same season.
"I’m always going to be myself,” Stroud said. “I really don’t get into the hoopla and away crowd, home crowd. I really don’t mind. I just try to execute and do my game, do what I need to do at a high level. I hope since it’s a night game, people come a little earlier.
"Maybe because of the Houston traffic, people come a little late. And then on offense, if they could be quiet a little more, that would help. Especially when we’re going fast, it’s hard for the guys to hear me. So I think we can be a little better with that. But, hey, we love the energy.”
Aaron Wilson is an award-winning Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and www.click2houston.com. He has covered the NFL since 1997, including previous stints for The Houston Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun. This marks his 10th year covering the Texans after previously covering a Super Bowl winning team in Baltimore. He has also covered the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans. A Washington, D.C. native, Wilson played college football at East Carolina University where he was a linebacker. Aaron and his wife live in Houston and enjoy traveling and trying new restaurants.
