As terrible as it felt to be so soundly defeated by Baltimore, we must not forget that the most important games of 2024 are still to come.

In some ways, this has been a strange season. The division lead felt comfortable as the Texans managed to defeat the Colts. This happened back in October, when the season ended earlier than ever before.

Then came back-to-back losses to the Jets and Lions. And while they knew a top-two finish was still possible, they felt it would take an outstanding performance to get there.

It’s not that these losses don’t matter. Obviously they do. But the fact is that the most important task for some time now has been getting to the postseason healthy and playing well.

The gauntlet of three games in eleven days is over. Except for the game in Miami, things didn’t go according to plan. This was a crucial performance that the Texans had to make. With two games against the AFC’s elite coming up, they had to take care of business and make sure the Colts had no life.

And in case you have any doubts about the magnitude, the Dolphins have now won five of seven, with the two losses coming just a week and a half ago in a freezing game in Green Bay and against a strong H-Town defense.

Even though the game feels like it did weeks ago, it basically “just happened.”