For the Houston Texans, there’s no time like the present to see how — if? — they measure up.

They’re off to the best start in club history, but that will be of little consequence if they come up short this afternoon in Lucas Oil Stadium against the measuring stick that is the Indianapolis Colts.

“It’s time for us to go up there and beat them,’’ Texans owner Robert McNair told Houston media this week. "You know, last year we came very close to beating them twice, and this year we need to turn that around.

“So I’m looking forward to going up there, and I think our players are.’’

Confidence is high in the Texans camp as they prepare for arguably the biggest game in franchise history. They’re 5-3 for the first time, including 3-1 away from home. They have won only once in 14 meetings with the Colts, and never here, but pushed the Colts to the limit twice last season before losing 31-27 and 33-27.

The Texans have never made the playoffs since joining the NFL as an expansion team in 2002, never had a winning record. They can take a major stride in that direction by matching a club record with a fourth straight victory.

Or the Colts can maintain their mastery of Houston, and the AFC South, by pushing their record to 8-0 and extending their regular-season winning streak to 17 games. A victory over the Texans would give them a four-game lead in the division with eight to play.

The perception is the Colts are the hunted because of their prolonged success and the fact they’ve dominated the division since its inception in 2002. They’ve won the AFC South five times and led or shared the division lead for 102 of 126 weeks. Houston has been in first place a total of five weeks.

The Colts don’t buy into the perception. Jim Caldwell, who can tie Potsy Clark of the 1931 Portsmouth Spartans for the best start by a rookie coach in NFL history, emphasizes the need for his players to be proactive, aggressive.

“Every week we’re the hunters, not the hunted,‘’ middle linebacker Gary Brackett said. "Despite how big it is for another team, it’s even bigger for us.

“That’s our mind-set.’’

Added defensive end Dwight Freeney: "We’re the hunters. We go out and hunt. They may want to hunt us, but we want to hunt them, so there’s going to be a lot of people hunting.’’

Each team is dealing with significant injuries.

The Texans’ No. 3-ranked passing attack lost Pro Bowl tight end Owen Daniels to a season-ending knee injury last week. The Colts defense, the league’s stingiest in scoring, will be without safety Bob Sanders, cornerbacks Marlin Jackson and Kelvin Hayden and linebacker Tyjuan Hagler. Sanders (biceps), Hagler (biceps) and Jackson (knee) are done for the season while Hayden could miss a month.

Shorthanded or not, the stakes remain high, more so for the Texans.

“We’ve got a big, big challenge,‘’ said Houston coach Gary Kubiak. "Obviously if you’re going to win this division, you’ve got to find a way to be competitive against this great Colt team.

“We know it’s going to take a special effort from everybody we’ve got. We’ve got to play as hard as we can and as smart as we can play and see what we can get done. But we understand the challenge.’’