Who to root for in every Week 1 game to maximize Texans playoff odds.

I ran 2 million Monte Carlo simulations of the season to figure out what the playoff implications of every week 1 game are.

The Texans current odds to make the playoffs are 59.8%.

If you beat the Rams, that goes up to 67.7%, but if you lose, it drops down to 54.1%. It's a swing of 13.6%.
CAR @ JAX is the second most impactful week 1 game for you guys. If the Panthers win, your playoff odds go up by 1.5%. If the Jaguars win your playoff odds go down by 0.9%.
MIA @ IND is the third most impactful game with a total impact of 2.0%. Your playoff odds go up if the Dolphins win.

I also made a website and posted the full results there. I'll update it every week with the upcoming games. Here's the data:

Game	Root For	If Win	If Lose	Impact Δ	Game Time
HOU @ LAR	HOU	+7.9%	-5.7%	13.6%	Sun 09/07 4:25 PM ET
CAR @ JAX	CAR	+1.5%	-0.9%	2.4%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
MIA @ IND	MIA	+1.2%	-0.9%	2.0%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
CIN @ CLE	CLE	+0.6%	-0.3%	0.9%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
TEN @ DEN	DEN	+0.2%	-0.6%	0.8%	Sun 09/07 4:05 PM ET
LV @ NE	LV	+0.5%	-0.2%	0.7%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
PIT @ NYJ	NYJ	+0.3%	-0.3%	0.6%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
KC @ LAC	KC	+0.2%	-0.2%	0.5%	Fri 09/05 8:00 PM ET
BAL @ BUF	BUF	+0.2%	-0.3%	0.4%	Sun 09/07 8:20 PM ET
TB @ ATL	TB	+0.1%	-0.1%	0.2%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
NYG @ WSH	NYG	+0.0%	-0.0%	0.0%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
SF @ SEA	SEA	+0.0%	-0.0%	0.0%	Sun 09/07 4:05 PM ET
ARI @ NO	NO	+0.0%	-0.0%	0.0%	Sun 09/07 1:00 PM ET
DAL @ PHI	DAL	+0.0%	-0.0%	0.0%	Thu 09/04 8:20 PM ET
DET @ GB	DET	+0.0%	-0.0%	0.0%	Sun 09/07 4:25 PM ET
MIN @ CHI	MIN	+0.0%	-0.0%	0.0%	Mon 09/08 8:15 PM ET

If you want to see the details of my methodology for the Monte Carlo simulations, look here.

You can also see which teams are rooting for and against you this week here.

There's also a What-If Tool where you can pick winners and losers of any games this season and recalculate your odds.