The Houston Texans’ 0-2 start has been ugly, but in the AFC South, it still doesn’t leave them buried.
That’s the strange comfort for Houston heading into Week 3. The Texans have opened the 2026 season with losses, injuries have piled up, and their 6-20 defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals made the early problems hard to ignore. Even so, the division around them has been so shaky that the Texans are still very much in the mix.
Through two weeks, the AFC South is sitting at a combined 1-7. Jacksonville is the only team in the division with a win, thanks to its Week 1 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Tennessee has dropped back-to-back games after a strong effort against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, and Indianapolis has also started 0-2 after nearly pulling out an overtime win against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.
That leaves Houston tied for second in the division despite not having a win of its own yet. It also means the Texans are only one game out of first place, a small margin that keeps their season from feeling completely off the rails this early.
The Week 3 trip to Indianapolis carries real weight because of that. Division games matter on their own, and they matter even more when both teams are chasing their first AFC South win and trying to avoid sliding deeper into the standings. If the Texans can win on the road, they’d grab an early 1-0 edge inside the division with five more AFC South games still to come.
There’s another layer, too. If Jacksonville loses to the New England Patriots in Week 3, the Jaguars would fall to 1-2.
In that scenario, a Texans win would put Houston in position to move to the top of the AFC South, at least for the moment. The tiebreaker between division teams after head-to-head record is division record, which gives Houston a clear path upward if the right results fall its way.
Of course, none of that matters if the Texans don’t clean up their own play first. The first two games have been disjointed, and an 0-3 start would make the climb a lot steeper. But with the rest of the division stumbling, Houston still has a shot to turn a miserable opening into something much more manageable.
In Other News...
Texans Upgrades Already Look Tested By The Same Early Alarms
The Texans first two weeks have already put a spotlight on the kinds of problems they spent the offseason trying to fix. An 0-2 start, their third in four years, has come with the familiar frustrations of a rushed offense that cannot get traction, red zone trips that stall out and a defense that has too often given up explosive plays. Losses to the Bills and Bengals have made those issues impossible to ignore, especially for a team that expected to look more stable out of the gate.
For Houston, the concern is not just the record but how quickly the same early alarms are ringing again. The roster upgrades were supposed to help the Texans play cleaner and more complete football, yet the opening stretch has instead raised the same questions about whether the rushing attack can set a tone, whether scoring opportunities will turn into points and whether the defense can stop bleeding big gains. Until those areas start to look different, the season will keep feeling too much like the ones that came before it. [Read more 🡒]
Texans Face An Early AFC South Test That Could Define This Start
The Texans are heading into Week 3 with an early divisional test that already feels bigger than the calendar suggests. Both Houston and Indianapolis are still looking for their first win, and for DeMeco Ryans, the matchup starts with the same place so many AFC South games do: controlling the run game and forcing a team to operate on Houstons terms.
Jonathan Taylor is the obvious focal point for the Colts, and the Texans will lean on a defense that has been strong against the run through two games, sitting sixth in rushing yards allowed. If Houston can keep Taylor in check, it would go a long way toward steadying a start that has yet to find its first breakthrough and could shape how the division race looks before September even closes. [Read more 🡒]
Texans Wasted A Dominant Defensive Effort In The Most Frustrating Ways
The Texans got exactly the kind of edge up front they were hoping for in Week 2, with their defensive line making life miserable for Cincinnati and creating a game that felt there for the taking. For stretches, Houston did enough on defense to tilt field position and keep the Bengals from settling in, but the offense never fully cashed in on those chances, especially when the drives tightened and the margin for error disappeared.
What made it so frustrating was the combination of missed opportunities and hidden damage elsewhere. Houston kept running into problems on third and fourth down, then watched special teams mistakes chip away at scoring chances and rhythm, turning a strong defensive showing into a game defined by what the Texans left on the field. By the end, the key plays that shaped the outcome made it hard to shake the feeling that a dominant effort had been wasted in the most avoidable ways. [Read more 🡒]