John McClain, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, is in his 48th year of covering the NFL in Houston, including 45 seasons at the Houston Chronicle.
Things could not have worked out much better for the Texans and Titans on a cold, windy and rainy Sunday afternoon in Nashville.
The Texans won the last game of regular season 23-14 to build some confidence and momentum for their wild-card playoff game against the Chargers at NRG Stadium next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT.
The Titans lost and secured the first overall pick in the draft.
The Texans closed regular season 10-7 for the second consecutive season under Head Coach DeMeco Ryans.
"I'm proud of our guys for back-to-back 10-win seasons," Ryans said after the game.
The Texans finished 5-1 in the AFC South, including 3-0 on the road. They have an 11-game road winning streak against division opponents.
"We've earned the right to play postseason football," Ryans said.
The Texans almost made the victory look easy, but they had a lot of help from Tennessee, a team that won 32-27 in Houston back on Nov. 24.
There's something about Columbia Blue that makes the Texans see red. Next season, the Titans might rethink their plan to wear Oilers' uniforms again when they host the Texans.
The Texans won in Tennessee for the second consecutive season in which the Titans wore Oilers' uniforms. Once again, Nissan Stadium was decked out with Oilers' logos, and once again, the Texans returned to Houston as winners.
The victory meant nothing in the playoff race, but Ryans had his players properly motivated to bounce back from consecutive losses to Kansas City and Baltimore, two of the best teams in the NFL.
After the way the Ravens battered the Texans 31-2 on Christmas Day, Ryans thought it was imperative to rebound from that beating at NRG Stadium before entering the playoffs.
Ryans' goals were to improve in the running game, do a better job of protecting quarterback C.J. Stroud, get off to a fast start on offense and avoid giving up too many explosive plays on defense.
The game could not have started better for the Texans. Stroud played the first series and engineered an 11-play, 69-yard drive that ended with his 2-yard touchdown pass to Nico Collins. He completed 6-of-6 for 50 yards and took a seat on the bench to watch Davis Mills replace him.
"We needed to come out and get that bad taste out of our mouths," Stroud told CBS after the game. "We came out strong, running and passing. It felt good to get our mojo back going into the playoffs."
As promised, Ryans played most of his starters and pulled many of them after they led 7-0 in the first quarter and 13-0 in the second.
"Our O-line did a nice job in the run game and on pass protection," Ryans said.
By the time the game ended, the Texans had reached several milestones.
Ryans and Stroud became the NFL's third head coach/quarterback combination to win at least 10 games together in their first two seasons.
Defensive end Derek Barnett recovered a fumble he returned 36 yards for a touchdown. Barnett joined defensive ends J.J. Watt and Mario Williams as the only Texans with at least one sack, two tackles for loss and a fumble return for a touchdown. He also became the 12th defensive lineman in NFL history to return two fumbles for touchdowns in the same season.
Despite missing five games with a hamstring injury, Nico Collins caught five passes for 38 yards and a touchdown and surpassed 1,000 yards for a second consecutive season.
Joe Mixon played long enough to gain 23 yards, joining Derrick Henry as the only current running backs to rush for at least 1,000 yards in five or more seasons.
Mixon and Collins became the team's sixth running back-receiver combo to have at least 1,000 yards in the same season.
Dameon Pierce replaced Mixon and played the most prolific game of his career.
Pierce blew through a wide hole created by the offensive line and outran the Titans for a 92-yard touchdown, the second-longest touchdown run in team history to Lamar Miller's 97-yarder against the Titans in 2018.
Pierce ignited the Texans' 207-yard rushing performance with 176 yards on 19 carries (9.3 average). Pierce joined Arian Foster as the only backs in team history to rush for at least 175 yards.
Pierce entered the game with 21 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown.
"It's about what you do to (take advantage of) your opportunities," Ryans said. "Everybody was so excited to see him play the way he did. Everybody was locked in and excited to see their brothers make plays."
And the Texans made a lot of plays on both sides of the ball. They also made some mistakes, which is expected when so many reserves are playing.
Stroud came out throwing and looked comfortable and confident on his only series that began with completions to Collins, who caught four passes, including his seventh touchdown.
Mills was proficient in the first half, connecting on 8-of-10 for 75 yards. The Texans' only turnover came at the end of Mills' 23-yard completion to Robert Woods, who had the ball knocked loose for a fumble.
In the third quarter, the Texans had the ball at the Tennessee 1-yard line, and Mills threw incomplete on third and fourth down.
The Titans scored their only touchdown with three minutes left in the game. On third down, quarterback Will Levis threw deep down the middle, a desperation pass. Somehow, receiver Tay Martin caught the ball between three Texans for a 49-yard touchdown.
When the Texans got the ball back, Mills handed it to Pierce, and they were able to run out the clock before heading home and waiting to find out their opponent in the wild card round.
That would be the Chargers and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, who has orchestrated an impressive transformation in Los Angeles. In his first season since winning the national championship at Michigan, Harbaugh guided the Chargers from a 5-12 record in 2023 to 11-6 this season and a seat at the playoff table at NRG Stadium.
