With Dallas’ recent struggles, Houston owns the crown for Texas’ best NFL team

The Houston Texans are 5-1, tied for the best start in franchise history . The Dallas Cowboys are 3-3, their worst start since 2020. While the most popular Texas NFL team remains the Cowboys, Houston has quickly taken the crown as the best.

That's rare for a Texans team who's had a better regular season record than Dallas just six times in their 23 years as a franchise. Even in the years when they were better, Houston's future outlook was normally worse than the Cowboys'.

The Texans are among four teams with one or fewer losses this season, and that one loss came against the 5-0 Minnesota Vikings. Meanwhile, Dallas' defense has been nothing short of dreadful. It's given up 39.6 points per game at home, highlighted by a 47-9 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 6.

The Cowboys' problems don't stop on defense, though. The red zone offense has been disappointing, as has the offensive line . The team is trending down following three-straight 12-5 regular seasons, while Houston is trending up. Penalties were a major problem for the Texans, but that's been cleaned up over the past few weeks. Wide receiver Nico Collins is on injured reserve, but running back Joe Mixon's return means Houston can rely on both the pass and the run for offensive production.

The last time the Texans were clearly a better team than the Cowboys was 2012. They finished that season 12-4 and made it to the divisional round, while Dallas missed the playoffs at 8-8. That was the one season Houston was head and shoulders above the Cowboys, but it didn't last long. The Texans were 2-14 the next year without any future hope at the quarterback position.

Tony Romo received plenty of criticism in his career, but he was always a better option than Houston's quarterback. The Cowboys went 13-3 in 2007 because of a dominant offense led by Romo. Then came Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott in 2016, which yielded instant success another 13-3 season. Then they followed it up by drafting CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons in back-to-back seasons.

From 2016-2022, Houston was 45-68-1. Dallas was 70-44 in that same span.

For the first time since they entered the NFL in 2002, the Texans' trajectory appears more promising than Dallas'. The Cowboys aren't necessarily in a bad spot. Prescott and Lamb are signed to long-term deals, and Parsons is one of the best defensive players in the league. It's just that Houston is better positioned for the future than arguably any franchise outside of the Kansas City Chiefs.

C.J. Stroud is already one of the NFL's best quarterbacks and just turned 23. Will Anderson Jr. and Derek Stingley are budding defensive superstars, led by a head coach in DeMeco Ryans who's guided one of the quickest franchise turnarounds in recent memory.

Houston and Dallas took opposite approaches to this offseason. The Texans spent big money on edge rusher Danielle Hunter while also trading for Stefon Diggs. Beside hiring Mike Zimmer as the defensive coordinator and re-signing Prescott and Lamb, the Cowboys made minimal offseason changes.

Dallas hasn't made it past the second round of the playoffs since 1995-96, while the Texans have never been to an AFC Championship game. With the way each team's trajectory has moved, Houston is better positioned to become the first Texas team to play a conference championship game in the 21st century. And this year is the first time one could actually say that.