NFL Playoff Picture: Home Teams Who Will Disappoint in Wild Card Round

Hosting a playoff game should be a pleasure for home fans, not something they should fear because their team is going to lose. However, these AFC teams are destined to lose at home this weekend in the Wild Card round. 

Houston Texans 

Houston is the epitome of stumbling into the playoffs. The Texans have lost three straight games by a combined score of 70-51 to teams that have a combined record of 17-31. 

This week, they play in their first-ever playoff game as a franchise against the Bengals, who almost beat them four weeks ago, to start this losing streak. 

Why They Will Lose

In their first meeting, it was considered Texans quarterback T.J. Yates’ “coming out party.” However, that was more of a false statement since Yates’ final stat line was 26 completions on 44 attempts, with 300 yards and two touchdowns plus one interception. 

His two touchdowns came when the Texans were down 16-3 and were in the second half. Plus his 6.82 yards per completion was his lowest of his five starts. 

With his shoulder injury that he suffered last week, it could completely eliminate any throws that he would attempt downfield to Andre Johnson. 

Because of Yates' injury, the Bengals will be able to hold the Texans off the scoreboard for a complete game, eliminating them from the playoffs. 

Denver Broncos 

The Broncos are just like the Texans with both teams falling into the playoffs after losing three straight games. 

However, at least the Texans have shown that they can move the ball in their last three games. Denver has done nothing over the last three weeks to show that they can score points. 

Their last three games have seen quarterback Tim Tebow go from hero, to dud. While their defense in two of those three games has gone from lockdown to doing about as good of a job as a sieve does at keeping liquids from escaping it. 

Why They Will Lose

Denver heads into the playoffs with the worst passing offense in the AFC only to play in the Wild Card round against the best passing defense in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

Tebow has struggled in the last three weeks against the 31st New England Patriots, the 19th Buffalo Bills and the sixth Kansas City Chiefs. Over those three games, Tebow has completed only 30 passes on 73 attempts for a 41 completion percentage. 

Tebow has even seen his touchdown to interception ratio drop from an impressive 11:2 in his first eight games, to 1:4 in his last three. 

Pittsburgh may not score a lot of points in this game, but the Steelers will not have to. They can sit back and watch Tebow self destruct the Broncos season by turning the ball over and not being able to complete key passes. 

There are four wild card games this weekend, but only two of the home teams will taste playoff defeat this week. The other two NFC games will see their quarterbacks lead their teams to big victories at home in front of their fans.  

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