Texans vs. Packers 2016 final score: Green Bay wins, 21-13, but no one looked good

Sunday’s tilt between the Houston Texans and the Green Bay Packers was beautiful to look at. It was terrible to watch.

These two playoff hopefuls played a sloppy, ugly, back-and-forth contest in a gorgeous Wisconsin snowstorm in Week 13. The Packers kept their postseason hopes alive by fending off the Texans, 21-13, but neither team looked like a credible threat to either conference’s playoff hopefuls. Aaron Rodgers and the Packer offense failed to drop into gear until the fourth quarter, when Jordy Nelson emerged as the only real threat on either sideline.

The Texans were even worse. With three minutes left in the game, Houston had more success running the ball (4.6 yards per carry) than throwing it (4.5 yards per pass). Only a two-minute drill against a patchwork prevent-playing Packer secondary could make the team’s passing offense look respectable on the stat sheet.

One fourth quarter exchange summed up their game perfectly. Alfred Blue took a handoff down the right sideline for 25 yards — Houston’s longest play of the game at the time — to set up the Texans in Green Bay territory. One down later, Brock Osweiler flipped a pass to his tailback in a play the Packers blew up immediately. The result? -9 yards and a trip back into the unhappy side of the field. The Texans punted two plays later, giving Green Bay all the latitude it needed to drive for 89 yards and seal its victory.

The Green Bay secondary looked competent for the first time in weeks, but that performance was as much a function of Houston’s failings as the Packers’ improvement. Osweiler short-armed passes to open targets and his wideouts did him few favors by dropping passes all over the field. The end result was a 213-yard, two-touchdown performance that looks far better on paper than it did on the field.

Without Nelson, Rodgers wouldn’t have been much better. The two-time MVP threw for 57 yards over his first three drives and then gained just 28 more over his next four while punter Jacob Schum earned his paycheck. With snow diagonally flying onto the field, the Packers reverted to short-yardage passes with minimal success. Only blown coverage could jump start the Green Bay deep game; Rodgers found a wide open Nelson in the end zone from 32 yards away to put his team back in the driver’s seat in the fourth quarter.

Nelson finished the game with 118 yards and a touchdown. His receiving output made up more than 56 percent of Rodgers’ passing yards.

The veteran quarterback averaged just 7 yards per pass on Sunday, and wasn’t helped by a rushing game that gained only 34 yards on 16 carries from players listed primarily at tailback. New arrival Christine Michael was the team’s featured runner — and gained just 2.1 yards per carry.

The victory pushed the Packers back to .500 on the season, but they’re still two games behind the NFC North-leading Lions with only four weeks left in 2016. A head-to-head matchup in Detroit will give them the opportunity to cut into that advantage, but Green Bay needs some help to keep its seven-year playoff streak alive.

Meanwhile, the Texans are just an Indianapolis Colts win away from a three-way tie atop the AFC South. While Houston has head-to-head wins over the Colts and Tennessee Titans, the team’s offense has done little to strike fear in the hearts of the division’s defensive coordinators. Osweiler hasn’t been able to address his team’s fatal flaw, and with the rest of the South closing in, it’s time to wonder if the 2016 Texans are fixable.