Houston Texans.

DeMeco Ryans's defense finished the 2025 season ranked first in the AFC by DVOA, held Drake Maye to a clerical error, and watched C.J. Stroud post a 28.0 passer rating in the divisional round — the worst by any quarterback in that round in a decade, a game in which Stroud threw four interceptions in the first half alone. It was the Texans' third consecutive divisional-round exit, a tradition now old enough that its younger siblings have begun to notice. In April, owner Cal McNair publicly confirmed that Stroud is in fact still his quarterback, a sentence owners only produce when the answer has stopped being obvious. Houston enters 2026 with the AFC's best defense and an offense whose job is to stay out of its way.