Texans Clinch AFC South: Latest Comments and Reaction

A 12-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday was enough for the Houston Texans to clinch the AFC South. 

The team's Twitter account celebrated the achievement:

ESPN Stats & Info provided an interesting note on the team's success:

Head coach Bill O'Brien gave his thoughts after the latest win, via the Texans' official Twitter account:

It took a fortunate turn of events on Christmas Eve to reach this point, with both the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts losing earlier in Week 16. This gave the Texans a chance to secure the division title with a victory over the Bengals.

While former Texans kicker Randy Bullock had a chance for the go-ahead field goal as time expired, he missed the 43-yard attempt, handing Houston the victory.

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle summed up the win:

This could be a good way to describe the entire season for the Texans, which featured eight of nine wins coming by a single possession. The squad has been outscored by 42 points this season, easily the worst of any team with a winning record.

Still, the Texans overcame many obstacles, most notably losing defensive end J.J. Watt to a back injury after just three games. Even without the three-time Defensive Player of the Year, however, the defense excelled while allowing a respectable 20.3 points per game.

Heading into Week 16, the unit ranked first in the NFL with just 306.5 total yards per game allowed.

There were bigger questions on the offensive end, with high-priced free agent Brock Osweiler struggling over 14 games. His 71.4 quarterback rating ranks 30th out of 31 qualified players in the NFL, per ESPN.com.

This provided an opportunity for Tom Savage to take over at a fraction of the cost, per Darren Rovell of ESPN Sports Business:

Despite the success, there are still question marks going forward as the Texans try to advance in the playoffs. Savage is still incredibly raw, while the rest of the offense has failed to find any consistency.

While the Week 17 matchup against the Titans no longer means much (aside from the No. 3 versus No. 4 seed), Houston still has a lot to work on before feeling comfortable going into the postseason.