For the third time in DeMeco Ryans' tenure as a head coach, the Texans are starting at 0-2.
The good news is that both other starts resulted in double-digit win seasons with playoff victories. The bad news is they have to do it again.
No one thought that opening with Buffalo and Cincinnati was going to be smooth sailing. But the waters are certainly stormier than we were hoping for.
The Bengals' 20-6 win put Houston in a bind, now dealing with having three of the next four games on the road, including a division date at Indy next week.
The script flipped a bit in Sunday's matchup, with the defense turning up the heat to the tune of five sacks and keeping things within striking distance for much of the afternoon.
Once Joe Burrow and his band put up their second TD, it made things dicey for a Texans offense that had red zone issues, after going four for five in TDs inside the 20 last week.
The Texans had trouble capitalizing when in scoring range, mis-executing a field goal snap, coming up short on fourth and inches and missing a 58-yard field goal. Had they converted on two of these three situations we might have been looking at a very different situation at the end.
On a day without Nico Collins to throw to, C.J. Stroud found eight different receivers on his way to a 353-yard afternoon. Dalton Schultz had a career day with 12 catches for 140 yards. But without any TDs, there was an empty feeling in the locker room and a single digit on the scoreboard.
Running the ball was hard to come by against the Bengals' revamped 2026 front. This is a much better team than the squad that finished third in the AFC North last season. Stroud was the leading rusher with 29 yards. That has to change if the Texans are going to break into the win column next week.
It's the first venture into the AFC South at Indianapolis next week. There's much to deal with as Jonathan Taylor and Daniel Jones try to make the Texans unhappy. But the Texans are often at their best with their backs against the wall.
That's where they are now, and they need to push their way forward as soon as possible.
