Texans Reach 10-Win Streak Overwhelming Steelers 30-6 in Wild Card Game

Summary:

• The Houston Texans’ defense dominated in a 30-6 wild-card win against the Pittsburg Steelers.
• The Texans forced four sacks and two defensive touchdowns, scoring their 10th victory in a row.
• Aaron Rodgers had one of the worst playoff games of his career and was pulled late in the fourth quarter.

Without a doubt, the Houston Texans entered the postseason with one of the NFL’s toughest defense.

On Monday night, they backed it up when they overwhelmed the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-6 in a NFL wild-card game that signaled the final chapter of Aaron Rodgers’ lengthy career.

From the get-go, the Texans set the tone, limiting Pittsburgh to just 175 total yards while keeping constant pressure on Rodgers, sacking him four times and forcing mistakes that turned the game into a rout. Two of those errors went straight to the end zone and effectively ended any chance of a comeback.

The first came early in the fourth quarter when Will Anderson stripped Rodgers from behind. Sheldon Rankins scooped up the loose ball and ran it in for a touchdown, pushing Houston’s lead to 17-6.

Moments later, Rodgers tried to force a pass and was picked off by safety Calen Bullock, who returned it for another score. With the deficit at 30-6, Rodgers was pulled in favor of Mason Rudolph, and the night was effectively over.

It was another statement performance from a defense that has made a habit of troubling elite quarterbacks. In recent weeks, Houston has forced multiple turnovers from Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, and now Rodgers.

Bullock: “Everybody Knows We Are the Best Defense”

Shoot, I think everybody knows we are the best defense. The whole world knows that. Every time we go out there we show it and we went out there and showed it today. I don’t even think they scored a touchdown.

For Aaron Rodgers, the night was especially rough. It marked the only playoff game of his career in which he failed to lead his team to a touchdown. His 14.3 total QBR was the lowest of his 22 postseason starts and just the second time one of his teams was held under 20 points in the playoffs.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans didn’t hold back when assessing the effort.

It was an outstanding defensive performance. One of the best that I’ve seen versus a really talented offense, a talented quarterback who played at a high level for a long time.

Houston’s defense was so dominant that even a messy night from quarterback C.J. Stroud didn’t matter. Stroud turned the ball over three times and fumbled five times total, yet the Texans never lost control.

The win extended Houston’s streak to 10 games. The Texans now head to New England for a divisional-round matchup with the Patriots on Sunday, with the hosts opening as three-point favorites.

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