Texans vs. Chargers Game Thread: Week 9, 2026

Taking the Texans, and I'm not even leaving the recliner to think about it. Houston is 2-1 on the road and put up 26-3 at Tennessee, while the Chargers are 0-7 and have been outscored 175-99. Stroud's passer rating is 100.7 and Herbert's team is stuck at 69.3, and that gap is the whole game. If you can't stop the run, you can't win, and a team that gives up 175 points in seven games is not stopping anything, so pass me the wings.

My pick was right: Texans 44, Chargers 22, and Houston's road crew is now 3-1 away from home. The Chargers out-ran Houston 138 to 104 and still lost by 22, so this is the exception to "If you can't stop the run, you can't win," because Herbert and company just could not keep up with the scoreboard. Eight straight losses for L.A., and I have thrown a remote at the wall for every one of them.