C.J. Stroud just about had to be scraped off the field inside Arrowhead Stadium by the time the Chiefs had sacked him for the eighth time Saturday, the Texans quarterback’s jersey stretched and torn and covered in grass and mud.

It pretty much summed up another trip to the divisional round of the playoffs for the Texans.

They rode a roller coaster of brilliant performances and bitter flops into the postseason, but seemed to be gathering some momentum in the wild-card round, when they soundly beat the Chargers in a game many expected them to lose.

That performance last weekend merely set up a showdown with the Chiefs, though. And with Patrick Mahomes finding Travis Kelce wide open all day and the Chiefs’ pass rush making life miserable for Stroud, the two-tie defending Super Bowl champs methodically pieced together a 23-14 victory to deny the Texans a spot in the AFC championship game yet again.

They’ve had six tries to get through the divisional round. They’ve failed all six times.

Two have been in Kansas City.

“This one hurts,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “In postseason football, you’ve got to be at your best. You’ve got to operate on all cylinders. We didn’t do that today.”

“It’s all about execution. I’ve talked about that all year,” said Texans running back Joe Mixon, who ran for 88 yards and a touchdown Saturday despite a sore ankle. “Unfortunately, it was two or three critical moments we didn’t execute the way we should have.

“... The margin of error, especially in the playoffs, is small.”

The Texans can still look back on a second consecutive AFC South title and that win over the Chargers. But they still have never won consecutive playoff games in a season, something that is sure to fester within Ryans, who was part of the first team to win a playoff game for the franchise when it beat the Bengals in January 2012.

Meanwhile, Stroud has done just about everything except make it to the AFC championship game. The 23-year-old starting QB — the youngest to face a defending Super Bowl champ in the playoffs — is only the sixth quarterback to win a playoff game in each of his first two seasons.

And he’s the first Texans quarterback to win two playoff games.

Yet there was nothing he could do against the Chiefs and their brutal pass rush Saturday.

There wasn’t much the rest of the Texans could do against the Chiefs, either.

Lions lament turnovers, bad defense: The Lions had everything set up the way they wanted this time.

After losing last season’s NFC title game in San Francisco, they went 15-2 to earn the NFC’s top seed. They enjoyed a first-round playoff bye and knew they wouldn’t have to play anywhere but Ford Field until the Super Bowl.

It didn’t matter.

The Lions self-destructed against the Commanders, turning the ball over five times in a 45-31 loss on Saturday night that ended another chance at the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

“We just didn’t complement each other,” said coach Dan Campbell, who nearly came to tears during his postgame news conference. “We didn’t get a stop when we needed one, and when we got a stop, we turned the ball over. With five turnovers — even if one was at the end and it was really four, that’s too much.”

Jared Goff took most of the blame — he threw three interceptions and lost his first fumble of the season. One of the picks was returned 40 yards for a TD by Quan Martin.

“If I play better, do we win? Quite possibly,” Goff said. “I cost us points by not taking care of the ball, and that’s going to hurt for a long time.”

Goff didn’t have a great night, but he wasn’t playing defense. Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels played a lot like Goff at his best — completing passes that gave his receivers a chance to run. Of his 299 passing yards, 188 came after the catch.

That wasn’t the only problem, though. The Lions’ injury-riddled defense gave up 481 yards — its third most this season — including 182 on the ground.

It also didn’t sack Daniels — a problem it has had since losing Aidan Hutchinson to a broken leg in October. Hutchinson had been aiming to return in time for the Super Bowl.

The Lions also lost cornerback Amik Robertson to a broken arm early in the game — yet another major injury for a depleted unit.

Last year, Campbell talked at length about how hard it is to get into position to win a Super Bowl, and how the 49ers loss might have cost the Lions their best chance.

This time, he couldn’t even address that topic.

“This isn’t the time — this hurts too much,” he said. “This isn’t the time to talk about our great season and all our wins. The whole point of playing is to get to the biggest game and we didn’t make it.”