The Kansas City Chiefs have played in the AFC Championship Game in each of the past six seasons. In their 23 seasons, the Houston Texans have never played in an AFC Championship Game.

One of the teams will play in this season’s AFC Championship Game. Which will be decided when the fourth-seeded Texans and top-seeded Chiefs square off in a Divisional Round game at 3:30 p.m. CST Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. ABC and ESPN will televise the game.

“That’s what they’ve been rebuilding for,” Houston defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said. “It’s moments like this, what we’re made for. It’s not for the regular season. It’s for moments like this that you put together a team like this. We got all the right pieces. We got all the right guys, coaching staff. We just got to go out there and make it happen.”

The former Alabama All-American thinks the Texans need to continue following a well-worn path to get somewhere new.

“It’s going to be an upfront battle on both sides of the ball,” Anderson said. “It’s going to be the O-line; it’s going to be the D-line. We determine how the game’s going to go. We got to go out there and out-physical them.

“We got to play our best ball that we’ve played all year. We got to be together, have good energy and be up for anything – sudden change and all that stuff. We got to play our brand of football on both sides.”

In defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12 last week to advance out of the Wild-Card Weekend for the seconds straight season, Houston recorded four sacks (with Anderson contributing 1.5) and four interceptions, with one returned for a touchdown.

In the NFL’s AFC/NFC era, four other teams have had four sacks, four interceptions and a pick-six in a playoff game. Two did so in Super Bowl victories. The other two did so on their way to the Super Bowl.

Before last week’s game, Anderson talked with former Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

“He just gave me a sense of calmness before the game,” Anderson said, “because me, I’m going, ‘Oh, I got to go out there and do this. I got to rise.’ He was like, ‘No, bro. It’s the same thing you been doing all regular season. You’re going to go out there and do the same thing in this game. Just be yourself. Have fun. The play’s going to come to you; don’t go out there and try to make plays because that’s when you take yourself out of the game.’ …

“The mindset is just being us, playing to our standard. It’s not rising to the occasion, rising up to this game. It’s rising up to our standard, rising up to our expectation.”

The Texans had 29 takeaways – 19 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries – during the regular season, which ranked fifth in the NFL. The Chiefs have had 14 turnovers in 2024, tied for the fourth-fewest in the league.

When Kansas City defeated Houston 27-19 on Dec. 21, the Chiefs didn’t lose a turnover. Anderson is hoping for a better showing for the “swarm defense” this time around.

Texans All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. said Anderson epitomizes swarm defense for Houston.

“Doing whatever it takes to get the ball. Attacking the ball,” Anderson said about swarm defense. “We got a saying in our D-line room: Who going to pop it off? Whoever pops it off first, that’s swarming. Who going to make the big play? And I feel like there’s a lot of guys on defense that pop it off, who’re swarming. All of us do a really good job of that. Sting making his big plays. He knows how to swarm. He’s one of the swarm leaders on defense. And we all feed off each other, and I think that’s what’s so great about this defense and this team.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.