Texans Coach Makes Embarrassing Excuse for Loss to Chiefs

Everyone falls short at some point. How you respond to those defeats is what separates winners from true losers.

It's one thing for fans and goofballs on social media to freak out about an imaginary conspiracy theory that the referees are rigging games in the Kansas City Chiefs' favor. It's another thing entirely for the Houston Texans themselves to do it.

After the Chiefs' 23-12 victory in the Divisional Round to advance to their seventh consecutive AFC Championship, Texans head coach Demeco Ryans had some interesting words blaming the officiating. Based on his reaction along with that of several key players, Houston entered this game having already lost.

Ryans said that they knew entering Saturday that the Texans would be against "everybody," seemingly indicating that they were facing both the Chiefs and the referees.

That line was echoed by C.J. Stroud, Will Anderson, and Joe Mixon, suggesting Ryans' line of messaging throughout the week wasn't exactly focused on the game at hand. Perhaps that's why the offensive line surrendered eight sacks while Kansas City repeatedly made winning plays down the stretch.

There were admittedly multiple questionable calls that went in the Chiefs' favor. That's part of football, and one could just as easily point to bad snap-judgment calls in every game in NFL history. For a coach to fail to get his team mentally prepared is unacceptable and a complete failure from Ryans' staff.

Compare Ryans' postgame comments to that of Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell, who handled his team's stunning loss with class and leadership.

That's how a leader is supposed to respond. Houston didn't do enough to win. It's as simple as that. If you enter a playoff matchup determined that everyone is out to get you, you probably won't execute the little things required to win.

The Chiefs understand how to remain focused on the ultimate goal. That's how a team can score in 13 seconds to send a postseason matchup to overtime or win three Super Bowls despite trailing by double digits in each one.

Some teams have the mental fortitude to overcome adversity. Those are winners. Some look to blame others. Those are losers.

Fortunately for the Chiefs, they clearly took on an organization that didn't have the right priorities in mind. That may not be the case moving forward. Even still, Kansas City still enters Sunday as the betting favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook to win the Super Bowl with +230 odds, largely due to their ability to focus on what actually matters.

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