How Christian Kirk went from Jaguars afterthought to Texans playoff hero

The last thing we expected to see was Houston Texans wide receiver Christian Kirk explode for a monster game in the wild-card contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But that is exactly what happened.

Kirk, who had just 239 receiving yards and one touchdown in 13 regular season games, torched the Steelers for eight catches for 144 yards and one touchdown.

Kirk's ascension on Monday night is even more impressive when you consider his career had hit the skids in recent years.

Kirk posted a career-best campaign in 2022 with 1,108 yards for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he battled injury woes in the next two years after that and did not do much before being traded to the Texans in 2025.

That deal took a long time to pay dividends for the Texans, but better late than never.

Kirk is going to be needed even more next week, as the Texans may not have the services of fellow wideout Nico Collins, who suffered a bad concussion and may not be ready to play in the divisional round.

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