The Wild Card Round of the 2026 NFL Playoffs concludes with a Monday Night Football game between the fourth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers and the fifth-seeded Houston Texans.

Last weekend, the Steelers clinched the AFC North after beating the Baltimore Ravens at home 26-24. The Ravens missed a 44-yard field goal attempt as time expired that would have won them the game, giving Pittsburgh its third straight playoff berth.

“It feels awesome, man,” Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt said during the postgame press conference. ”Winning is tough in this league, man. It's so tough. You put so much work into it… but with that comes not getting a win in the playoffs. So, we're not just here to take part, man. We want to come in here, and we want to win games.”

As Watt mentioned, postseason success has been hard to come by in Pittsburgh. The Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since beating the Kansas City Chiefs on January 15th, 2017.

“It's not about the organization or myself; It's about this collective. And quite frankly, most of these men don't care about the last whatever years that you mentioned,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on January 6th. “Most of them are new to us, so that's where my focus is. I'm certainly not going to unpack my bags on the collector's bed, if you will. I'm excited about doing it this week with this collective.”

Though the Steelers have reached the postseason five times over the last six years, this will be just their second home playoff during that stretch.

“[We] don't take home playoff games for granted. Certainly don't take home Monday night playoff games for granted, man,” Tomlin said. “It's an honor to be in this position, excited about it, but I - and we - show respect to that by training with an edge and preparing with great urgency.”

Pittsburgh was able to overcome the absence of wide receiver DK Metcalf, who had to miss the last two games while serving a suspension. Now that he's back in the fray, it adds an extra element to the Steelers' offense.

“Certainly awesome to have DK back. But we're not going to exhale and think that DK automatically - with his presence - is going to be a difference or the difference. Football is the ultimate team game. It's going to require great effort from all parties involved, but [I’m] certainly excited about doing it with him,” Tomlin said. “I think he's in a great place. I know that he's happy to be back. He's happy to be in this tournament, and he's ready to go to work.”

On the other side, the Houston Texans have looked unstoppable recently with nine consecutive victories. November 2nd was the last time the Texans lost a regular-season game.

“[I’m] just thankful for such an incredible regular season,” Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans said during his Week 18 postgame press conference. “Our guys were able to accomplish a lot of great things, no matter how dim it looked to start the season. Just proud of our guys for continuing to battle every single week, finding a way to win games, and to now finish on a high note, winning here versus a really good team. Really proud of our guys.”

The good news for Houston is that this group has plenty of playoff experience. This is the third straight year that the Texans have made the postseason, with wins in each of the previous two seasons.

“I'm excited. I think the experience that I've been able to gain in the last two years has been very important and helpful,” explained Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud. “But, it's a new year, and I’ve never played on the road in a Wild Card game. So, that's a new experience in that, but I kind of have a good idea on how some of these games go, and that's you don't have an idea. It can go any way, and this is a good team we're playing against. So just trying to be prepared in my preparation as much as I can.”

For as good as the Texans' defense has been this season, they'll have a difficult challenge ahead of them with Aaron Rodgers lining up under center on the other side of the ball. Though facing Rodgers presents unique challenges, that's not going to deter Houston from what it has been doing well all season.

“Aaron, I mean, he's done it at a high level for a long time because he’s probably one of the smartest quarterbacks to play the game,” Ryans said last Monday. “[He] does a really good job, understands defense really well. But - for us - that doesn't change. We’ve got to go out. It's about the guys that are playing. Like it's about our guys just playing together collectively going against a really good opponent.”

It's no secret that the Texans have had some offensive issues, ranking 29th in the red zone with touchdowns on just 46.3% of their trips. The hope is that Houston can grow from those past struggles.

“We're always trying to learn, and I know a couple weeks back, I was asked about some of the pressures. We're always trying to work on issues that come up. Correcting things, whether it's problem pressures, even things that come up throughout the league that we see that are trends and stuff. We're always trying to get ahead of it,” explained offensive coordinator Nick Caley while speaking to the media on January 10th. “This is going to be a tremendous challenge. You look at the edges. I think Heyward's playing as good a football as I can ever remember him playing. So, they are an outstanding defense, and their front gets them going, so we’ve got to be at our best.”

Perhaps the toughest challenge for the Texans will be playing on the road in the playoffs. This is the first time in franchise history that Houston will be on the road team in a Wild Card game.

“It's you against everybody else in that stadium,” DeMeco Ryans laughed. “We've gone on the road this year. We've felt like our guys have handled ourselves. Our team has handled themselves pretty well on the road this year, understanding that, again, it goes back to us being in the moment, executing, playing together. We won't have that crowd support, but that's okay. You still have to find a way to figure it out, find a way to win football games. And we've done that on the road… We're excited about it versus a really tough crowd. We know they're going to be loud, and it's going to be a really great environment, cool environment for our guys who haven't seen that before. It's going to be a really great environment for them to witness.”

Prediction for Houston Texans (-3) @ Pittsburgh Steelers

This is a nightmare matchup for the Steelers. The Texans are equipped with the league's best and arguably fastest defense after finishing the regular-season ranked first in yards per game allowed (277.2) and second in points allowed per game (17.4). Conversely, the Steelers utilize an archaic offensive scheme that is reliant on players making things happen with little-to-no pre-snap motion or trickery. That would explain why Pittsburgh ranks 25th in yards per game (305.6). Aaron Rodgers is still an excellent quarterback, but he does not have the mobility he once had, which will make it very hard for him to escape the pocket and avoid the Texans' pass rushers, who are tied for the sixth-most sacks in the NFL this season. The Steelers will need their defense to be perfect, which is unlikely considering they allow touchdowns on more than half of their opponents' red zone trips (50.91%). Add in the fact that the Texans have done a much better job of protecting the quarterback in the second half of the season (eight sacks allowed in their last seven game), and Houston should be able to go into Pittsburgh and steal a win.

Prediction: Texans 19 - 17 Steelers

How to watch Houston Texans (-3) @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Texans @ Steelers starts at 8:15 p.m. EDT on Monday at Acrisure Stadium. You can watch it on ESPN or ABC, or stream it via the ESPN app or NFL+.

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