Jan. 22, 2026, 7:14 a.m. CT<\/p>\n
With a 28-16 loss<\/a> to the New England Patriots<\/a> in the divisional round, the\u00a0Houston Texans<\/a>\u00a0have wrapped their 2025 season. The future remains bright behind a No. 1 defense and stable weaponry, but the pressure will be on C.J. Stroud entering a crucial fourth season.<\/p>\n After overachieving in head coach DeMeco Ryans’ first season<\/a>, Stroud has regressed each offseason. Former No. 3 overall pick Will Anderson Jr. has consistently improved, going from 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year to an All-Pro and Defensive Player of the Year candidate. Meanwhile, Stroud tossed five interceptions and finished with seven turnovers in the playoffs, failing to guide the Texans<\/a> to a conference title appearance despite having an elite defense.<\/p>\n Plenty of pieces are in place, mainly on the defensive side. Still, general manager Nick Caserio must ensure that his team, fresh off a third divisional round loss, doesn’t squander the opportunity to elevate its chances of finally overtaking the playoff potential in the final year before paying the top players big-time Monday.<\/p>\n As the 2026 season remains over 200 days away, it’s never too early to look at the schedule. No, the dates and kickoff times are still up in the air, but the opponents are locked up with the regular season in the rear-view mirror.<\/p>\n Among their home schedule includes matchups against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens and Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills<\/a>. On the road, Houston will travel to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, along with Green Bay and Philadelphia.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Since the Texans finished second in the AFC South, they will face off against every second-ranked team in the conference. This includes the Bills and Los Angeles Chargers, along with the Packers from the NFC North.<\/p>\n The Texans will also have matchups against everyone in the AFC North and NFC East, this time hosting the Dallas Cowboys while traveling to take on the Washington Commanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here’s a look at every opponent for the Texans 2026 regular season:<\/p>\n Home opponentsAway opponentsIndianapolis ColtsJacksonville JaguarsTennessee TitansCleveland BrownsPittsburgh SteelersLos Angeles ChargersWashington CommandersPhiladelphia Eagles<\/a>Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n The Texans own the No. 28 pick in the upcoming NFL draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 22, 2026, 7:14 a.m. CT With a 28-16 loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[33,56,58,57,9268,9269,11059,44,5003,18796,2653,5000,7234,31052,4588,5011,22868,7240,2654,19636,44726,1593,5012,4587,1576,33183,44728,2619,44725,44729,44724,44730,44727,42,1585,41,3054,46,5008,1574,31793,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-133582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-sstssportsnfltexans","13":"tag-sstsntexans","14":"tag-tagafc-south","15":"tag-tagamerican-football","16":"tag-tagbaltimore-ravens","17":"tag-tagbreaking-news-social","18":"tag-tagbuffalo-bills","19":"tag-tagc-j-stroud","20":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","21":"tag-tagdemeco-ryans","22":"tag-taghouston-texans","23":"tag-tagindianapolis-colts","24":"tag-tagjacksonville-jaguars","25":"tag-tagjoe-burrow","26":"tag-tagjosh-allen","27":"tag-taglamar-jackson","28":"tag-tagmadden-nfl","29":"tag-tagnational-sports","30":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","31":"tag-tagnfc-east","32":"tag-tagnfl","33":"tag-tagnfl-draft","34":"tag-tagnfl-films","35":"tag-tagnfl-hub","36":"tag-tagnfl-junkies","37":"tag-tagnfl-mvp","38":"tag-tagnfl-overreactions","39":"tag-tagnfl-playoffs","40":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","41":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","42":"tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","43":"tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","44":"tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","45":"tag-tagsports-news","46":"tag-tagtennessee-titans","47":"tag-tagwashington-commanders","48":"tag-tagwill-anderson-jr","49":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}