The Houston Texans secured their sixth AFC South title in franchise history with a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Saturday afternoon at Raymond James Stadium.
More telling is the fact it is their fourth division title in the past five seasons.
“It is a good accomplishment,” coach Bill O’Brien told reporters after the game. “I think anytime you can win 10 games and win your division four out of five years, I think it show some level of consistency. Obviously, we have a long way to go, but it’s a great accomplishment.”
In 2015 and 2016, there was element of the Texans winning a division by default that was substandard and hardly the class of the AFC; 9-7 records gave Houston the division in those seasons with Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, Brandon Weeden, T.J. Yates, Brock Osweiler, and Tom Savage all making starts over those 32 regular season games.
In 2018 and 2019, Deshaun Watson has taken the helm in all 31 games to date and produced 10-plus win seasons, convincing clinches of the division.
“To win the division with one game left to play says a lot about this team,” O’Brien said. “They are a resilient team, they work hard, they come to work every day and they try to do what we ask them to do, so it was good.”
The coaches will determine what they want the Texans to do for Week 17 as it is a relatively meaningless game. A win would not get the Texans a first-round bye, but it could improve their seeding on wild-card weekend. As it stands, the Texans would be the No. 4 seed and host the No. 5 seed Buffalo Bills, who will be 10-5 heading into Week 17.
A win would also give the Texans consecutive 11-win seasons for the first time in franchise history, and make them the first AFC South winner since the 2013-14 Indianapolis Colts to have consecutive 11-plus win seasons.
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