NFL Playoff Tradition: Texans Draw Saturday-Afternoon Game Again

There are no certainties when it comes to the NFL playoffs—except perhaps the Texans playing a Saturday late afternoon wild-card game. 

Houston’s placement in the NFL’s first—and arguably least attractive—playoff broadcast slot is now about as close to a sure thing as the league’s postseason can offer.

The AFC South division champions this season claimed the eighth postseason berth in their 23-year history, and for the eighth time will play a wild-card game at 4:30 p.m. ET on a Saturday. The Texans will face the Chargers on CBS, kicking off the NFL’s three-day wild-card weekend. 

The streak, remarkably, covers the Texans reaching the playoffs as both a division champion and as a wild-card team, and against opponents from all other U.S. geographic regions and AFC divisions.

There is perhaps a reduced momentum surrounding the 10–7 Texans this year, particularly after the breakthrough season in 2023 for quarterback C.J. Stroud that wasn’t entirely repeated in 2024, and the team is currently the betting underdog in the Chargers game. There’s also little debate that the team doesn’t have the expansive fan base, mainstream cachet, or proven ratings power as several other playoff teams such as the Steelers, Bills, and Packers. 

Houston has won five of its prior seven wild-card games. The Texans, however, are 0–5 in the divisional round.  

“We’ve earned the right to play postseason football, which is always our goal, and now we’re excited for whatever opportunity comes next,” said Texans coach DeMeco Ryans.

Other Playoff Matchups

The NFL, meanwhile, rolled out late Sunday a similarly sequenced wild-card schedule as a year ago, slating all of the AFC games to be played before the NFC ones. 

The Texans-Chargers game will be followed Saturday night by a Steelers-Ravens game on Amazon Prime Video, its first NFL playoff game in company history, that could challenge the recent league streaming records set by Netflix. Sunday’s tripleheader will begin with a Broncos-Bills game at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, followed by the Packers and Eagles clash at 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox, and concluding with the Commanders and Buccaneers in prime time on NBC. 

The weekend will finish Jan. 13 with the Vikings visiting the Rams, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, with simulcasts across multiple Disney properties including ABC.

The top-seeded Chiefs and Lions earned byes in this round.