The odds of being struck by lightning twice in a lifetime are one in nine million. For the Houston Texans those the odds were doubled within the last 3 weeks. Houston (4-10) lost another close game to divisional rival Indianapolis Colts (10-4) on a fumble inside of the five-yard line. The Texans were left wondering again, “What could have been” as they lost 27-20 to the Colts.

“It’s hard,” said Texans interim head coach Romeo Crennel after the game. “It’s difficult, but we were there and really we had a chance to win in both instances and in both instances we were not able to get the ball into the end zone to win the game or to put ourselves in position to win the game this week.”

Trailing late in the fourth quarter by seven points after Colts quarterback Phillip Rivers (228 passing yards and two touchdowns) connected with wide receiver Zach Pascal, Houston put themselves in position to tie the game when Deshaun Watson led them down the field to the Colts 21-yard line. On third-and-11 with no timeouts, Watson connected with wide receiver Keke Coutee, who had scored earlier to tie the game at 20. Coutee made a move towards the goal line, but Colts linebacker Darius Leonard punched the ball out from behind and the fumble was recovered by Indianapolis to secure the victory.

“It’s crazy,” said Colts head coach Frank Reich. “I think Darius (Leonard) caused the one today, just a great play by him.”

Texans quarterback Watson did everything he could to keep his team competitive on Sunday throwing for 373 yards and two touchdowns. He once again put his team in a position to defeat the Colts but came up short on the turnover. Unlike two weeks ago when Watson clearly showed his emotions after the game, Sunday it was about being a leader and making sure his teammate knew that he had his back.

“Yeah, I spoke to him (Coutee),” Watson said in his postgame press conference. “I just told him to keep his head up because he was one of the guys from the last time two weeks where he came over and made sure I was in good spirits too – me and Nick (Martin). Plays like that happen and it just didn’t go our way.”

It would be easy for the Texans to just go through the motions for the next two games since they have been eliminated from postseason play this season, but if you think that is the players mindset then you clearly don’t know the true leader of that team and his desire to compete on a weekly basis.

“Have some pride, have respect for the game and this organization and your families and the name on the back of your jerseys and go out there and play,” said Watson. “We’re eliminated and haven’t been winning the last two weeks, but at the same time, this is a profession. No one’s going out there lollygagging or anything like that, we want to go out there and win and have some pride with it.”