AP

For most of this season, it’s looked like the Colts would stagger their way to the playoffs by winning a terrible division. But while the Colts were on their bye this week, the Texans and Jaguars made the AFC South race interesting.

The Texans beat the Bengals last night to improve to 4-5 and move into a tie with the Colts for first place in the division, and the Jaguars beat the Ravens to improve to 3-6 and a game behind the Colts and Texans. The Titans, at 2-7, are still in the race, although they remain a long shot.

The Colts remain the favorites, thanks to their 3-0 division record. They’ll be without Andrew Luck for much of the remainder of the season, but they’ve already beaten Houston and Jacksonville once with Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback.

The Texans, however, earned the most impressive victory of any AFC South team this season in Cincinnati last night. Houston’s defense has allowed just six points in each of the last two games, and the Texans have to be feeling pretty good about their chances down the stretch.

The Jaguars, at a game behind, have less margin for error. But Jacksonville plays six of its remaining seven games against teams with losing records, with four of those seven at home. The Jaguars’ remaining schedule makes an 8-8 record a real possibility, and that may be all it takes to win the division.

The AFC South isn’t a good division, but it is a wide-open race.