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The Chicago Bears have a solid case to be considered the best team in the NFC. The same can be said about the Houston Texans in the AFC, and Houston entered Sunday night's game against the Bears with the best record in the conference. Obviously, there are playoff implications on the line in this game, but a loss for the Texans could make for strange, unexpected circumstances in the AFC playoff picture.
If Houston loses this one, the team's record drops to 7-2. That is just one game better than the Indianapolis Colts, who would be quite surprisingly just a game behind the Texans in the AFC South.
The Colts beat the Jaguars in a Thursday night laugher to move to 6-3. It still leaves the Colts in one of two wild card spots, a surprise in and of itself.
Circle Week 15 on your calendar; that's the first time this season the Colts and Texans will play each other. That game is in Houston. The real showdown could come in Week 17, when the two teams play for the second time in the regular season, this one in Indianapolis.
Houston hosts Jacksonville next week and flies to Detroit the week after. Indianapolis plays in New England the week after that, before a home game against the Bills a week later.