FOXBOROUGH — Exactly one month ago, the Houston Texans brought the AFC’s best record to Gillette Stadium for a much-hyped “Monday Night Football” game with the Patriots, and left a few hours later with a convincing, humbling 42-14 defeat.

Outplayed and outcoached Dec. 10, the Texans responded to the loss by dropping two of their next three games, a late-season swoon that caused them to fall out of the top playoff seed and into wild-card weekend. Saturday’s 19-13 win over Cincinnati means the Texans will head to Foxborough a second time this season, for a divisional-round playoff game against the Patriots Sunday at 4:30 p.m.