The Texans finally got the kind of late-game surge they had been waiting for, and it still wasn’t enough.
Houston fell to the Indianapolis Colts, 19-17, and dropped to 0-3 after another game defined by missed chances, uneven execution and a finish that slipped away in the final minute. For a stretch in the fourth quarter, it looked like the Texans might have been turning the corner.
They forced turnovers, moved the ball and grabbed a 17-16 lead with 1:48 left. Then the game turned again.
That result came despite a much better showing from C.J. Stroud than the box score alone might suggest.
He helped engineer the Texans’ best drive of the day when it mattered most, completing 15-yard passes to Xavier Hutchinson and Kayshon Boutte before Woody Marks finished it off with a one-yard touchdown run. Stroud also found Foster Moreau for a touchdown earlier in the game and later connected on enough key throws to keep Houston alive.
But the offense still settled for too many field goals and left too many points on the field against the league’s worst defense.
The Texans’ first half was rough enough to put them in a hole. On three of their first four drives, they managed just 15 total yards.
They also turned the ball over on 4th & 1 after Will Anderson Jr. forced a fumble from Daniel Jones, and the Colts’ interior rush created constant problems for Wyatt Teller and Evan Brown. Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner were disruptive all night, and Nick Caley’s aggressive approach led to several punts.
Houston’s defense had its own problems early. Daniel Jones kept finding Josh Downs for chunk plays, and he picked on Calen Bullock, Reed Blankenship and rookie linebacker Wade Woodazz on the way to Indianapolis’ first touchdown early in the second quarter.
Still, the Texans flashed enough in the second quarter to make the game feel different. David Montgomery finally helped steady the offense, Houston drew a few penalties out of the Colts, and a pass interference call while targeting Jared Wayne in the end zone on a trick play set up the Stroud-to-Moreau touchdown. That made it 10-7, and even after Indianapolis answered with a field goal to go up 13-7 at halftime, Houston at least looked like a team that had found something.
The second half brought a better version of the defense and a more familiar version of the offense. Bullock looked sharper in coverage, and Blankenship delivered a huge interception at the Houston one-yard line to stop a Colts drive.
The Texans couldn’t do anything with it, going three-and-out. After another defensive stop and another three-and-out from the offense, Indianapolis extended the lead to 16-7 on a field goal with 12:43 left.
From there, the Texans’ offense again had to answer and again came up short of the end zone. Stroud made plays to Hutchinson and Wayne, but Houston settled for three points and trailed 16-10.
Then Anderson came through again, forcing another Jones fumble that Tommy Togiai recovered. Anderson finished with 7 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, both of them huge.
This time, Houston cashed in. Stroud hit Hutchinson and Boutte on back-to-back 15-yard completions to push the Texans deep into Colts territory, and Marks punched in the go-ahead score from a yard out.
But the lead barely lasted. Jones found Laquon Treadwell for 20 yards against Bullock, and even with two timeouts still available, Houston chose not to use them after Jonathan Taylor picked up 5 yards with a little over a minute left. The Colts then moved enough for a game-winning 53-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining.
That left the Texans with only a last-ditch Hail Mary chance, and not enough time to pull off the escape. It also left head coach DeMeco Ryans’ end-game decisions under the microscope.
There were some encouraging signs for Houston. Stroud looked closer to himself for much of the afternoon, and the defense is starting to find its footing again. But scoring only 17 points against the league’s worst defense is still a brutal outcome, no matter how much the quarterback stabilizes.
Nick Caley has plenty to sort through on offense, and general manager Nick Caserio is still staring at the same offensive line problem that keeps dragging this team back down. The Texans are showing pieces of a team that can compete, but right now the record says 0-3, and that is the part that matters most. Since 2020, only one of 24 teams to start 0-3 has reached the playoffs, and that one team was the 2025 Texans.
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