Texans lose No. 1 pick in 2023 NFL draft with Week 18 win vs. Colts

The Houston Texans had it all sewn up. They were the NFL’s worst team by record at 2-13-1, and all they had to do was to lose on Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts, and they’d have the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft. That would have given them the choice between any player, of course, and most mock drafts had them taking Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with that first pick.

Well, that’s not going to happen anymore. With 50 seconds left in that game, and the Texans down, 31-24, quarterback Davis Mills threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Akins.

Then, the Texans said ‘feh’ to overtime, instead going for the two-point conversion… and getting it! Akins also caught the conversion, putting Houston up, 32-31.

Meanwhile, the former Chicago Bears lost 29-13 to the Minnesota Vikings. So, the Bears now have the first pick in the upcoming draft.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The Bears don’t need a quarterback with Justin Fields on their roster, so they can either stay put and take whomever they like or they can trade down with another quarterback-needy team for a bevy of picks. Either way, the Texans are no longer in control of their own destiny in the draft.

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Texans head coach Lovie Smith said all along that his team was going to play to win, no matter what.

‘That’s easy to say, absolutely. I said the same thing last week,’ Smith said. ‘I’ve been asked this question a few weeks because we’ve been in that role. I understand it. We’ve been trying to win for a long period of time, every game. None of that has changed. That’s why there is disappointment in what happened yesterday. We’re going to go to work this week and do everything we possibly can to win this last game.’

So, Smith and his team stayed on point all along — even to the detriment of their own draft position.