It's been a discussion all over the Houston sports media scene. Can the Texans win the Super Bowl? Is it Super Bowl or bust? Houston Chronicle columnists Randy Harvey and Jerome Solomon have written opposing views on whether or not the Texans can/will win the Super Bowl.
The talking heads in Houston sports radio are doing segments on it.
Harvey takes a logical, mathematical perspective on the Texans' chances. There's 32 NFL teams and you could make a case for maybe 10-12 of them who could win the championship.
And with a pretty strong schedule in 2012, it makes sense to take the field if you're answering whether Houston will win. It makes sense. But the Texans have their reasons for their Super Bowl expectations.
Just think about how long it took to get to this point, reach the playoffs, have Pro Bowl caliber players all over the field. Before now, the hasn't been realistic.
To add, it could really be now or never for the Texans. Think about the Chargers since 2006, or the Philadelphia Eagles earlier in the last decade.
I'm reluctant to mention the Bills of the early 90s. Point is that a lot of teams knock on the door but never get in. So while Texans are against the odds mathematically, same is the case for every other team in the NFL, particularly the handful of squads that have the same confidence as the Texans.
If this isn't Houston's year to claim Super Bowl intentions and expectations, then when does that year come?
Here's Solomon:
A check of the names tells you how far the Texans have come since they were on the bottom rung of the NFL ladder. From David Carr to Matt Schaub, Jonathan Wells to Arian Foster, Corey Bradford to Andre Johnson, Billy Miller to Owen Daniels, Jay Foreman to Brian Cushing, Gary Walker to J.J. Watt, Matt Stevens to Daniel Manning, and so on. Thus, expectations have gone from hoping to be respectable to expecting to win it all.
There is a nervous, almost edgy tension around Reliant Stadium. That is a good thing.
It isn't fear. It isn't anxiety. It isn't panic.
It is anxiousness.
Read more on the Texans at the Battle Red Blog and SB Nation Houston.