Football Power Index: Texans To Regress In 2017

Brace yourself. You’re not gonna believe this, but there is yet another statistical analysis that says your Houston Texans are bound for heartache in 2017. We’ve seen it before, and now ESPN’s Sports Analytics Team is here to harsh your buzz anew with their initial Football Power Index rankings for next season.

How are these rankings determined, you ask? Like so:

In short, a team's FPI rating combines its efficiency ratings on offense, defense and special teams -- based on each unit's expected points added per play -- with the sum of all three squad ratings yielding the overall FPI rating. (For more on how FPI is calculated, click here and here.)

With that in mind, your 2017 Houston Texans, according to ESPN’s FPI calculations, shall:

• Win a mere 7.8 games (and lose 8.2 games).
• Have only a 32.2% chance of making the NFL Playoffs.
• Have only a 22.5% chance of winning the AFC South.
• Have only a 9.7% chance of winning a wild card berth for the AFC Playoffs.
• Have only a 1.5% chance of emerging as the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
• Have only a 1.5% chance of winning the AFC.
• Have only a 0.6% chance of winning the Super Bowl.

Fair? Unfair? Not worth getting your Irish up? Opine in the space below.