Bill "Keep Hope O'Live" O'Brien says anything can happen.

Well, yes it can. Will it happen is another question altogether.

Let me help you by showing you how the Houston Texans can make the playoffs.

First, and foremost, they have to win their final four games. There are scenarios by which winning three of four would be good enough, but I'm not going to spend all damn day figuring them out.

PlayoffStatus.com says the Texans have a 17-percent chance of advancing to the postseason. It could be worse.

I'm going to give you reasonable scenarios for how the Texans could be playoff bound.

Obviously, the easiest way for the Texans to get in would be to win the AFC South.

They can do that by winning out and having the Colts lose three games. The former is a more ridiculous notion than the latter. (I'll tell you why later.)

Indianapolis plays three of its final four games on the road (at Cleveland, Dallas and Jacksonville), and their home game is against the Texans.

So, if Houston beats Indy, it would need Johnny Football to work his magic in Cleveland this week, and the Dallas Cowboys to give Houston a Christmas present on December 21 in Arlington.

If Houston and Indianapolis tie with 10-6 records, they would be 1-1 head-to-head, and have the same record within the division, but the Texans would lose the third tiebreaker which is the teams' records in common games (Indy beat the Bengals and the Giants). So, to win the division, the Texans will need Indy to lose three times.

If the Colts take the division, the Texans would need to claim a wild card slot.

Here is what it could take to do it:

With wins over Buffalo, Cleveland and the Ravens (assuming the Texans do the unthinkable and win out), the Texans should root for those teams to be involved in tiebreaker scenarios, as opposed to the Steelers and the Bengals.

The Texans also have a big-time ace in the hole. If they finish 10-6, they will end the year with only three conference losses. That would give them the tiebreaker edge on everybody except potentially the Broncos and the Patriots, who have one and two AFC losses, respectively.

Every other team (except Houston) that finishes 10-6 would finish with at least four conference defeats. Head-to-head is the first wild card tiebreaker, then record within the conference.

Let's leave the division leaders where they are and make everybody else wild card contenders against the Texans. Here is what Houston needs to happen:

San Diego (8-4, needs to finish 10-6 or worse) – The Chargers seem to always close strong, but with their difficult schedule (New England, Denver, at San Francisco, at Kansas City) they could easily lose three of their last four games. They have the most challenging four games remaining for any team in the league. With two losses, they lose a conference-record tiebreaker with the Texans.

Kansas City (7-5, needs to finish 10-6 or worse) – The Chiefs have a virtual bye at home against Oakland in two weeks, but games at the Cardinals, who admittedly seem primed for a fade, and at the Steelers won't be easy. After the Chargers lose their next three, which is very possible, they will be desperate in Week 17, so that will be a tough one for the Chiefs as well.

Buffalo (7-5, needs to finish 10-6 or worse) – This is a given. The Bills have a great defense, but come on, they won't win at Denver this week, beat Green Bay the week after and win at New England in the season finale, though the Patriots could be resting starters for that one. The Bills might go 8-8.

Miami (6-5, needs to finish 10-6 or worse) – We're wasting time on them because they will lose multiple games, but for information purposes, the Dolphins would lose a tiebreaker with the 10-6 Texans as long as their loss is to an AFC team If not, the Jets lose the fourth tiebreaker (record against common opponents), mainly because the Texans beat the Bills while the Dolphins lost to them once. The Texans could have a 5-0 record against common foes (Buffalo, Oakland, Jacksonville and Baltimore), while the best Miami could do is 4-1. They Dolphins play at the Jets tonight, the Ravens, at the Patriots, and close at home against Minnesota and the Jets.

Baltimore (7-5, needs to 10-6 or worse) – Wouldn't be a surprise at all to see the Ravens win at Miami next Sunday, and at home against Jacksonville and Cleveland. But they get their sixth loss in Gary Kubiak's return to Houston on December 21.

Pittsburgh (7-5, needs to finish 9-7) – The win over Houston is huge, but the loss to the Saints yesterday puts the Steelers in jeopardy of being passed by the Texans with two losses. Two of their final four games are against the Bengals, and they travel to Atlanta and host Kansas City. That one against the Chiefs could be the one that determines whether the Texans get in.

Cleveland (7-5, needs to finish 10-6 or worse) – If Johnny be good to the Texans, Manziel will step in for the horrid Brian Hoyer and help Cleveland topple the Colts this week. After that, the Browns host Cincinnati, then finish with road games at Carolina and Baltimore.

Y'all know I'm not one to be Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows, but this isn't all that ridiculous. It won't even take a host of upsets.

If my cyphering is correct (and feel free to back read and set me straight if I missed something), the only upsets required for a Texans wild card are the Texans over the Colts in Indianapolis and (maybe) Houston over Baltimore at NRG Stadium.

Before you get too excited, there is that one point I warned you about earlier.

For the Texans to make this run, they need to finish with five straight victories.

When Matt Schaub was here, the Texans won seven in a row (Matt Leinart started one of those games and T.J. Yate two of them) one time, six in a row twice and five in a row on another occasion. So it's doable.

But Ryan Fitzpatrick, who had a career day Sunday with six touchdown passes in the Texans' blowout of the Titans, has been in the NFL 10 years and has never been on a team that won more than three games in a row, let alone five.