{"id":293701,"date":"2026-05-15T00:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/293701\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:16:08","slug":"houston-texans-schedule-2026-takeaways-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/293701\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Texans schedule 2026: Takeaways, predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"


HOUSTON — TheHouston Texans<\/a>‘ 2026 schedule was released along with the rest of the NFL slate Thursday.<\/p>\n

Houston’s 2026 goal is straightforward: Can the Texans get past the divisional round of the playoffs after failing to do so the past three seasons? Anything short of an AFC Championship appearance will feel like a disappointment.<\/p>\n

Houston has arguably the best roster in team history and that will be on display for four primetime games.<\/p>\n

Here’s what’s in store for the Texans:<\/p>\n

\"\"Texans 2026 regular-season schedule<\/p>\n

Week 1: Sept. 13 vs. Buffalo Bills<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 2: Sept. 20 vs. Cincinnati Bengals<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 3: Sept. 27 at Indianapolis Colts<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 4: Oct. 4 vs. Dallas Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 5: Oct. 11 at Tennessee Titans<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 6: Oct. 18 at Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> (London at Wembley)<\/p>\n

Week 7: Oct. 25 vs. New York Giants<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 8: Nov. 1 Bye Week<\/p>\n

Week 9: Nov. 8 at Los Angeles Chargers<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 10: Nov. 15 at Cleveland Browns<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 11: Nov. 19 vs. Indianapolis Colts (TNF)<\/p>\n

Week 12: Nov. 29 vs.Baltimore Ravens<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 13: Dec. 6 at Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> (SNF)<\/p>\n

Week 14: Dec. 13 at Washington Commanders<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 15: Dec. 20 vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/p>\n

Week 16: Dec. 24 at Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> (TNF)<\/p>\n

Week 17: Jan. 4 at Green Bay Packers<\/a> (MNF)<\/p>\n

*Week 18: vs. Tennessee Titans<\/p>\n

*Date to be determined<\/p>\n

Strength of schedule: The Texans have the league’s seventh-easiest schedule (opponents had a .474 winning percentage in 2025).<\/p>\n

DraftKings over\/under win total:9.5<\/p>\n

ESPN analyst Mike Clay’s projected win total: 9.4<\/p>\n

Biggest takeaway<\/p>\n

The Texans have a great opportunity to start off this season hot as they open up at home for three of the first four weeks. Last season the Texans went 7-2 at home even despite starting 0-3 on the season. If they get off to a good start, their goal of being a top-2 seed is in play.<\/p>\n

Circle this date<\/p>\n

Week 1 isn’t always impactful, but Buffalo traveling to Houston can be, and they play Sep. 13. The last time they faced off, the Texans forced former MVP quarterback Josh Allen<\/a> into two turnovers and sacked him eight times in primetime. The Texans’ defense is known for dominating premier quarterbacks and gets a chance to continue that trend in Week 1. This isn’t a rivalry matchup, but it could be a potential tiebreaker for Houston if they’re contending for the No. 1 seed because Buffalo may also contend for the seeding. Anytime Houston plays an AFC contender, it’s a measuring stick.<\/p>\n

Bold prediction<\/p>\n

The Texans will win at least 13 games. They have All-Pros on every line of their defense and have improved their trenches on both sides of the ball. Quarterback C.J. Stroud<\/a> should be better in Year 2 under offensive coordinator Nick Caley and with a defense that ranked No. 2 in points allowed, Stroud leading the offense to at least 21 points weekly will rack up wins.<\/p>\n

What could the road stretch to end the season do for Houston?<\/p>\n

Four of the Texans’ final six games will be on the road in potentially hostile environments as they face the Steelers, Commanders, Eagles and Packers. This should help prepare Houston for road playoff games, which the franchise has struggled with.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

]<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON — TheHouston Texans‘ 2026 schedule was released along with the rest of the NFL slate Thursday. Houston’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[107220,7000,56,58,57,79,80,19705],"class_list":["post-293701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-107220","tag-espn","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-texans","tag-nfl","tag-stroud-cj"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293701","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=293701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}