Everyone is going crazy for C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans but are they really Super Bowl contenders in 2024?

The Houston Texans have never made the AFC Championship game.

Could this be the year that the NFL’s youngest team leapfrogs history and advances all the way to the Super Bowl?

Since entering the league in 2002 as an expansion team, the Texans are 152-202-1 all-time, with a 5-7 playoff record.

But after years of inner dysfunction and mounting fan frustration, the 2023 campaign represented a thrilling breakthrough.

C.J. Stroud made first overall pick Bryce Young forgettable, leading the rebuilt Texans to a 10-7 record and the AFC South title.

Rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans was the perfect hire, reconnecting with the team’s fanbase while getting the most out of a roster that entered the season facing bottom-of-the conference predictions.

“At this time last year, going into the 2023 season, we didn’t know they were going to do as well as they did,” John McClain exclusively told talkSPORT.

“I picked them to win six games.”

McClain has covered the NFL for 48 years in Houston and is a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter.

A year after watching Stroud win Offensive Rookie of the Year and Ryans lose Coach of the Year on a tiebreaker, the Texans are in the same international conversation as the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills as serious Super Bowl contenders.

The Texans haven’t been this hot since 2012, when they started 11-1 and featured J.J. Watt, Andre Johnson and Arian Foster leading one of the NFL’s most explosive teams.

McClain has a strong prediction for where the Texans will end their 2024 season, but he also warns anxious red-and-blue supporters that this year will be an entirely different scenario for the reigning AFC South champs.

“People are so fired up,” McClain said. “I would caution them. People get mad here when I say I don’t think they’re going to be a Super Bowl contender this year — more like next year.

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“Keep this in mind: When you finish in last, you play a last-place schedule. Last year, they played the worst division in the NFL, the NFC South. Their crossover game was the Arizona Cardinals.

“This year, they play a first-place schedule. The crossover game is at the Cowboys. They play five division champions, 11 games against teams that had winning records.”

McClain then listed a the opposing quarterbacks that the Texans will face: Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott, Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love, Jared Goff, Caleb Williams, and two division games against Trevor Lawrence.

“They brought in 15 unrestricted free agents on defense from other teams,” McClain said. “Five of their nine draft choices, including their first (pick), with defense. And they re-signed five of their defensive free agents, because they know DeMeco Ryans’ defense has to be better against that schedule.”

Still, McClain believes the NFL’s youngest team will finally reach the AFC Championship in 2024.

His prediction: The Texans will post a 10-7 record and repeat as AFC South champs, then lose at Baltimore to the Ravens one game before Super Bowl LIX.

It would be the best year in Texans history and represent a new peak for the former expansion franchise.

First, Stroud and Ryans must navigate an imposing 17-game schedule that is would be worthy of a Super Bowl run.

“Remember this time last year, everybody was saying the same thing about the Jacksonville Jaguars,” McClain said. “The had won the division. They had won a playoff game with a great comeback, before losing a close one in the divisional round.

“It was a very cautionary tale that they did. A lot of teams that finished in last are using the Texans as an example.

“And the Texans are using the Jaguars as an example of what can also happen.”

Texans face Super Bowl schedule

Opposing quarterbacks Texans face in 2024

• Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
• Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
• Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
• Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets
• Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
• Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
• Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
• Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
• Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
• Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (twice)