The Houston Texans dropped to 0-3 on the season Sunday after a last-second 53-yard field goal lifted the Indianapolis Colts to a 19-17 win, dealing another blow to a Houston team that entered 2026 with genuine Super Bowl expectations.
How It Ended
Houston appeared to be on the verge of its first win of the season when running back Woody Marks scored a 1-yard touchdown with 1:48 remaining, putting the Texans ahead 17-16. The Colts responded by driving down the field and converting the go-ahead field goal with just 16 seconds left, sealing the loss.
By the Numbers: How Bad Was Houston’s Offense?
The Texans’ offensive struggles were evident well before the final drive. On their first seven possessions, Houston punted five times and was forced into four three-and-outs and two four-and-outs, including a fourth-down stop at the Colts’ 31-yard line on their second drive. The team entered the third quarter with just 81 yards of total offense — a number that would have looked even worse had a replay review overturned a Colts fumble recovery near midfield.
For the game, C.J. Stroud finished 16-of-27 for 167 yards and a touchdown, while Houston’s ground game managed just 70 rushing yards on 21 carries — a 3.3 yards-per-carry average. The Texans finished with 223 total yards against a Colts defense that entered Week 3 ranked dead last in the league in points allowed, total yards allowed, yards per play, and passing yards allowed.
What makes the loss sting more is that Houston’s defense largely did its job: Will Anderson Jr. recorded multiple sacks and forced fumbles, and the unit finished with three turnovers and four sacks overall while drawing just two penalties. Indianapolis still controlled the game by running 20 more plays than Houston and holding an 11-minute edge in time of possession.
A Colts Team That Had Been Historically Bad on Defense
Indianapolis entered the week with the NFL’s longest active losing streak at nine games and had dropped five straight in this head-to-head series. The Colts’ defense had allowed the second-highest total yardage through two games in NFL history (1,029 yards), trailing only the 2016 Oakland Raiders. Against that backdrop, Houston’s inability to move the ball consistently stands out as a genuine red flag rather than simply a tough matchup.
Echoes of Last Season — But a Different Feeling This Time
Houston has been at 0-3 before. Last season, the Texans responded by winning 12 of their final 14 games, becoming just the seventh team in NFL history to start 0-3 and still make the playoffs.
This year carries a different set of warning signs. Star wide receiver Nico Collins has missed two straight games with a hamstring injury, Stroud is completing just 60% of his passes, and the running game has averaged only 3.6 yards per carry on the season. After opening with 31 points in a Week 1 loss to Buffalo, Houston has managed just 23 total points combined across its last two games — against a Cincinnati defense and an Indianapolis defense that had been among the league’s most generous.
What the Texans Are Saying
Head coach DeMeco Ryans was direct in assessing the loss: “Defensively, [Indy] did a good job getting off the field on third down and we weren’t able to sustain drives. O and 3, that’s where we’re at right now. It’s not good enough from our perspective.”
Stroud struck a similar tone, acknowledging the deja vu of the situation while pushing back against using it as an excuse: “You can call me crazy, we’ve been here before. There are no excuses in this league. No one cares about what happened or how it happened, they just want to see if you won or lost. But we know who we are, we know what we have in the locker room.”
He added: “The pieces are there, the fight is there, we know we can get this thing turned around, but it’s on us to do that. This is something we’ve learned from in the past, so our goal will be to come out of it as a better team.”
What’s Next
Houston is now tied for last in the AFC South with the Tennessee Titans and returns home next week to face the Dallas Cowboys, with an 0-4 start — and a home loss to a cross-state rival — now a real possibility if the offensive issues aren’t addressed.
