The Houston Texans fell short of their first-ever AFC Championship appearance with Saturday's 23-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The game's underlying metrics don't exactly support the final score.
DeMeco Ryans' team outgained the Chiefs by 224 yards, and they didn't commit a turnover as quarterback C.J. Stroud played efficient, mistake-free football. 100-or-more yards of offense and zero turnovers is effectively a perfect playoff formula. Teams with those metrics were previously 49–0 in the postseason. That number is now 49-1 after Houston’s ugly playoff exit Saturday.