Texans HC DeMeco Ryans makes feelings known on controversial refereeing for Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs - "It was us versus everybody"

The Houston Texans' season ended on Saturday. The team had the difficult task of going into the Arrowhead Stadium and knocking down the Kansas City Chiefs, holders of the #1 seed in the AFC and current back-to-back Super Bowl champions. However, a 23-14 loss ended their hopes.

Winning against the Chiefs in the playoffs is a difficult task. Since the 2018 season, when Patrick Mahomes became their starter, the team has made the conference championship every single season, and only two quarterbacks (Tom Brady and Joe Burrow) were able to win a playoff game against the Chiefs.

The game had some alleged controversial referee calls that went the Chiefs' way, especially with plays related to late hits on Mahomes.

When asked in a press conference avout the calls, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans raised eyebrows with his answer:

"We knew going into this game, man, it was us versus everybody. I say everybody is everybody, everybody in the naysayers, they doubt, right? Everybody we had to grow against today. Knowing going into this game, what we were up against, we can't make the mistakes that we made. We had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that happen"

Some of the controversial calls related to Kansas City's win involved two late-hit penalties, a no-call on a hip-drop tackle and many missed holdings by their offensive line.

The Houston Texans have never made the AFC Championship Game

The 23-14 loss to the Chiefs ended their dream of a first Super Bowl for the franchise. The newest franchise in the NFL, established in 2002, still has never made it to the conference championship.

Since the franchise was established, they have made the playoffs in eight of their 23 seasons. The Texans advanced to the Divisional Round six out of eight times, losing in the Wild Card Round in the other two.

Houston never finished higher than #3 in the conference seedings, meaning they never had a bye in the Wild Card Round as a division winner. They also played all six Divisional Round games away from home.

The Kansas City Chiefs, on the other hand, will host another AFC Championship Game on Sunday, when they meet the winner of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills.