It’s an encouraging, exciting trend, so let’s see how far this ride can take us

Where is this going to end? The 10-6 Texans?

The 11-5 Texans and a couple of playoff victories?

Or a December letdown just when you were starting to believe in Houston’s professional football team?

The squad that started a backward 0-3 just keeps stacking up victories. The week off is perfectly timed for Bill O’Brien’s surging 6-3 crew, which is officially one of the hottest in the NFL and hasn’t lost a game since late September. And if you run through the remainder of the Texans’ 2018 regular-season schedule, you’ll find seven remaining contests that are winnable on paper and would see O’Brien’s team favored in each if

they were played today.

Not bad for starting the season with a fumbled handoff and trailing by a combined 58-9 during Weeks 1-3.

“We’ve done a great job of coming back from where we were, but we’ve got a long way to go,” O’Brien said Monday at NRG Stadium.

Perfectly said.

Three of the wins have been by three points or less, including two late in overtime, and a missed 51-yard field goal was required Sunday as time expired at Denver. Opposing coaches Frank Reich, Jason Garrett and Vance Joseph have helped the Texans since this winning streak began. Among the teams O’Brien’s squad has beaten, only Miami possesses a winning record, and the Dolphins were playing their backup quarterback on short rest.

The Texans have also played their butts off for O’Brien since a Week 3 home embarrassment to the now 1-7 New York Giants. Deshaun Watson has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 591 yards, eight touchdowns and zero interceptions during his last three games. Romeo Crennel’s defense entered Monday ranked seventh in the NFL in average points allowed (20.4) and eighth in yards (336.3).

The most encouraging number: Only four NFL teams have more victories than O’Brien’s.

The Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots are legit Super Bowl contenders. The Texans should capture the AFC South for the third time in four years.

But can this team become something more than a wildcard winner in 2018? That becomes the question with a muchneeded week off on the schedule and 13 days to prepare for a work trip to the nation’s capital.

“That’s big,” O’Brien said. “I think we have to do a good job over the next few days here of looking at ourselves, our scheme, how we’re using different players in relation to our opponents, starting with Washington. We’re not looking beyond Washington. But, ‘OK, here come the Redskins. What are they doing?’ Yeah, we may want to change some things or move some guys around, but we better make sure it coincides with who we’re playing. I think that’s going to be a big effort on our coaching staff ’s part: to make sure we make some good decisions over the next couple of days.”

You love six consecutive W’s. But you want more of the offense that put up 42 points against the Dolphins and much less of the inconsistent attack that averaged 19.5 points during tough victories over Dallas, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Denver.

O’Brien wants the same thing. He also ran 33 times for 98 yards for a reason against the Broncos — protecting Watson, clock management, game control — and his young QB threw for five TDs on national TV not that long ago.

“In order for us to be where we want to be, there are so many things that we need to do better,” O’Brien said. “Whether it’s running the ball, the passing game being more consistent from a protection, from a route standpoint, the running game being more consistent.”

The Texans’ offense probably isn’t going to evolve into the Chiefs, Rams, Saints or Patriots by Week 17. But if O’Brien can get more out of newly acquired veteran wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, keep turning rookie tight end Jordan Thomas into a red-zone weapon and continue the limited turnover trend with Watson, it’s easy to envision the first 10-win season of his Texans tenure.

“Try to keep working to improve. That’s the big thing,” said O’Brien, adding emphasis to the words. “You really have to buy in as a coaching staff and as a player, as a unit, into the improvement. You have to get better. You cannot stay the same, and you certainly can’t get worse. You have to try to improve on the things you need to get better at.”

The Texans reached 6-3 two seasons ago under O’Brien. Then they fell to the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City, finished 9-7 and were ultimately undone by a $72 million QB the franchise didn’t believe in.

In 2018, Watson literally creates something from nothing on a weekly basis and has recently been playing the smartest football of his career.

J.J. Watt should be the leading contender for NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

DeAndre Hopkins ranks third in the league in receiving yards and is tied for second in receiving touchdowns.

The weapons and playoffcaliber talent are there on both sides of the ball.

Yes, there are holes and question marks. Of course, this team is a couple of levels removed from the league’s elite.

But this is the best and most complete the Texans have been under O’Brien in early November. Keep building and rising, and January could become interesting for a team that turned 0-3 into 6-3.