For the third consecutive season, the Houston Texans are headed to the playoffs.
Houston beat the Los Angeles Chargers 20-16 on Saturday afternoon for its eighth straight win. It improves the Texans' record to 11-5, their best in the three seasons since DeMeco Ryans has been head coach.
The division has yet to be decided, with the Jacksonville Jaguars carrying an 11-4 record and two games left in the regular season. But whether it's as a division champion or a wild card team, the Texans are right there in the thick of things after starting the season 0-3 and later 3-5.
It's the first time in franchise history for the Texans to make three straight postseason trips.
They wasted no time jumping ahead of the Chargers on Saturday. It started with a 75-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud to rookie wide receiver Jayden Higgins on the first drive of the game.
On their next drive, Stroud found another rookie for a big score, this time Jaylin Noel for a 43-yard touchdown. From there, all Houston needed was a couple of field goals to keep the Chargers at bay.
The Texans' offense was stagnant after those first two drives, but the defense largely remained outstanding. They sacked Justin Herbert five times and intercepted him once.
It was telling that the Texans' offense never made a trip to the red zone, but held the Chargers to just 2-of-5 in the red zone.
The Texans finish up their season at home against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.