The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team. Now known as the Tennessee
Titans, they previously played in Houston, Texas from the team's founding in 1960 to
1996, before relocating to Memphis, Tennessee, and later Nashville, Tennessee, and becoming
the Titans.
The Houston Oilers began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League
. The team won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger
in the late 1960s.
The Oilers competed in the AFL's East division – along with the Buffalo Bills, the New
York Jets and the Boston Patriots – before the merger, after which they joined the newly
formed AFC Central. Throughout their existence the team was owned by Bud Adams. For the majority
of their time in Houston, the team played their home games at the Astrodome; Jeppesen
Stadium and Rice Stadium hosted the team for their first eight years.
The Houston Oilers were the first champions of the American Football League, winning the
1960 and 1961 contests, but they never won another championship. The Oilers appeared
in the 1962 AFL Championship, losing in double overtime to their in-state rivals, the Dallas
Texans; they also won the AFL East Division title in 1967 and qualified for the AFL Playoffs
in 1969, both times losing to the Oakland Raiders. From 1978 to 1980, the Oilers, led
by Bum Phillips and in the midst of the Luv Ya Blue campaign, appeared in the 1978 and
1979 AFC Championship Games, but lost both. The Oilers were a consistent playoff team
from 1987 to 1993, an era that included both of the team's only division titles , as well
as the dubious distinction of being on the losing end of the largest comeback in NFL
history. For the rest of the Oilers' time in Houston, however, they compiled losing
seasons in almost every other year.
The Houston Oilers' main colors were Columbia blue and white, with scarlet trim, while their
logo was a simple derrick. Oilers jerseys were always Columbia blue for home and white
for away. The helmet color was Columbia blue with a white derrick from 1960 through 1965,
silver with a Columbia blue derrick from 1966 through 1971, and Columbia blue with a white
and scarlet derrick from 1972 through 1974, before changing to a white helmet with a Columbia
blue derrick beginning in 1975 and lasting the remainder of the team's time in Houston.
Owner Bud Adams, who had openly threatened to move the team since the late 1980s, relocated
the Houston Oilers to Tennessee after the 1996 season, where they were known as the
Tennessee Oilers for the 1997 and 1998 seasons. The Tennessee Oilers played the 1997 season
in Memphis, Tennessee before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 1998. In 1999, to coincide with
the opening of their new stadium, Adams changed the team name to the Tennessee Titans and
the color scheme from Columbia Blue, Scarlet, and White to Titans Blue, Navy, White, and
Silver with scarlet accents. The franchise retained the Houston Oilers' team history
and records, while the team name was officially retired by then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue,
thus preventing a future Houston, Texas NFL team from using the Houston Oilers' name.
The NFL returned to Houston, Texas in 2002 with a new franchise, the Houston Texans.
1960s The Houston Oilers began in 1960 as a charter
member of the American Football League. They were owned by Bud Adams, a Houston oilman,
who had made several previous unsuccessful bids for an NFL expansion team in Houston.
Adams was an influential member of the eight original AFL owners, since he, Dallas Texans/Kansas
City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt and Buffalo Bills founder Ralph Wilson were more financially
stable than the other five .
The Oilers appeared in the first three AFL championships. They scored an important victory
over the NFL when they signed LSU's Heisman Trophy winner, All-America running back Billy
Cannon. Cannon joined other Oiler offensive stars such as quarterback George Blanda, flanker
Charlie Hennigan, running back Charlie Tolar, and guard Bob Talamini. After winning the
first-ever AFL championship over the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, they repeated over the same
team in 1961. The Oilers lost to the Dallas Texans in the classic 1962 double-overtime
AFL championship game, at the time the longest professional football championship game ever
played. In 1962, the Oilers were the first AFL team to sign an active NFL player away
from the other league, when wide receiver Willard Dewveall left the Bears to join the
champion Oilers. Dewveall that year caught the longest pass reception for a touchdown
in professional American football history, 99 yards, from Jacky Lee, against the San
Diego Chargers.
The Oilers won the AFL Eastern Division title again in 1967, then became the first professional
football team to play in a domed stadium, when they moved into Houston's Astrodome,
then home of MLB's Houston Astros for the 1968 season. Previously, the Oilers had played
at Jeppesen Stadium at the University of Houston from 1960 to 1964, and Rice University's stadium
from 1965 to 1967. Adams had intended the team play at Rice from the first, but Rice's
board of regents initially rejected the move. After the Astrodome opened for business, Adams
attempted to move there, but could not negotiate an acceptable lease with the Houston Sports
Association from whom he would sublease the Dome. The 1969 season, the last as an AFL
team, saw Houston begin 3–1, but tumble afterwards. They qualified for the playoffs,
but were defeated by the Raiders 56–7, to finish the year with a record of 6–7–2.
1970s The years immediately after the AFL-NFL Merger
were not as kind to the Oilers, who sank to the bottom of the AFC Central division. After
going 3–10–1 in 1970, they went 4–9–1 in 1971, and then suffered back-to-back 1–13
seasons in 1972–73. But by 1974, the Oilers led by Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman brought
the team back to respectability by reaching .500 at season's end.
The next year, Bum Phillips arrived and with talented stars like Elvin Bethea and Billy
"White Shoes" Johnson, the Oilers had their first winning season of the decade going 10–4
but did not make the playoffs. Injuries and inadequate offense doomed them to a 5–9
season in 1976, but the team improved to 8–6 the following year, and in 1978, the Oilers'
fortunes improved when they drafted University of Texas football star Earl Campbell, known
as the "Tyler Rose", who was Rookie of the Year that year and led the Oilers to their
first playoff appearance since the merger.
Defeating Miami in the wild-card round, they then trumped New England, leading to immediately
rebuilding of the Patriots. But in the AFC Championship, the Steelers routed them 34–5.
In spite of the lopsided defeat, the Oilers returned home to a packed Astrodome for a
pep-rally uncommon in professional sports.
The 1979 season was a near rerun of 1978 as the Oilers finished 11–5 with Campbell gaining
1,600 yards in the regular season, and again earned a wild card spot. Beating the Broncos
in the first home playoff game in Houston in over a decade, the Oilers' performance
suffered with injuries to Campbell, Pastorini and Burroughs. They did manage to edge past
the high-flying San Diego of Dan Fouts in the divisional round, partly thanks to the
play of Vernon Perry as well as the outstanding line coached by Joe Bugel. The Oilers returned
to the AFC Championship game for the second year in a row, only to get knocked down by
the Pittsburgh Steelers again, in spite of a terrific effort by Dan Pastorini—the Steelers
had shut the ailing Campbell down, yet Pastorini nearly succeeded with the modest receiving
corps of Mike Renfro, Rich Caster, and Ronnie Coleman venturing into the Steelers Hall of
Fame defense. A controversial out-of-bounds call nullified a touchdown by wide receiver
Mike Renfro resulting in a 27–13 victory for Pittsburgh. Once again, after a tough
loss, the Oilers returned to their then-adoring fans who packed the Astrodome for an impromptu
pep-rally for the second year in a row.
1980s 1980 saw the Oilers go 11–5 and achieve
a wild card spot for the third year in a row, but they were quickly vanquished by Oakland,
27–7. Bud Adams fired Bum Phillips, who was succeeded by Ed Biles. Afterwards began
a long playoff drought as the Oilers fell to 7–9 in 1981, and 1–8 in the strike-shortened
1982 season. In 1983, Houston went 2–14. Biles resigned in Week 6 and was succeeded
by Chuck Studley, who served merely as an interim coach until Hugh Campbell was hired
in the off-season. In 1984, the Oilers won a bidding war for free-agent former CFL quarterback
Warren Moon but didn't return to the playoffs that year either, with two wins and fourteen
losses. The aging Earl Campbell was traded to New Orleans during the off-season and was
replaced by Mike Rozier, a refugee from the USFL. In week 14 of the 1985 season, Campbell
was replaced by Jerry Glanville, who saw the team through the last two games to finish
5–11. A 31–3 rout of Green Bay in the 1986 season opener looked promising, but in
the end Houston only managed another 5–11 record. Another strike in 1987 reduced the
season to 15 games, three by substitute players. After ending 9–6, the team achieved its
first winning record and playoff berth in seven years. After beating the Seahawks in
overtime, they fell to Denver in the divisional round. Going 10–6 in 1988, the Oilers again
got into the playoffs as a wild card, beat Cleveland in a snowy 24–23 match, and then
lost to Buffalo a week later. 1989 saw a 9–7 regular season, but the team gained a wild
card berth. In a messy, penalty-ridden game, they were beaten by Pittsburgh.
Renovation to the Astrodome The Oilers' resurgence came in the midst of
a battle for the franchise's survival. In 1987, Adams threatened to move the team to
Jacksonville, Florida , unless the Astrodome was "brought up to date". At the time the
Astrodome seated about 50,000 fans, the smallest capacity in the NFL. Not willing to lose the
Oilers, Harris County responded with $67 million in improvements to the Astrodome that included
new AstroTurf, 10,000 additional seats and 65 luxury boxes. These improvements were funded
by increases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel tax, as well as bonds to be paid
over 30 years. However, Adams' increasing demands for greater and more expensive accommodations
to be funded at taxpayer expense sowed seeds of tension that assisted the team's departure
from Houston.
1990s The Oilers briefly rose to become a league
power once again in the first half of the 1990s. In 1991, the Oilers won their first
division title in 25 years, and their first as an NFL team. However, only two minutes
away from their first conference title game in 13 years, they were the victims of an 80-yard
march by John Elway and the Denver Broncos before David Treadwell kicked a 28-yard field
goal to win the game 26–24. In 1992, the Oilers compiled a 10–6 regular season record,
but made history against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card playoffs by blowing an
NFL record 35–3 lead and eventually losing 41–38 in overtime, a game now known simply
as "The Comeback".
In the 1993 season, the Oilers finished with a 12–4 record, their best record ever in
Texas, and another AFC Central title, but lost in the second round to the Chiefs. However,
the 1993 season is best remembered as being a turbulent season for the team, as internal
conflict plagued the team with a 1–4 start before they eventually won their final 11
games of the season. One notable part of the turbulence was a brawl between offensive coordinator
Kevin Gilbride and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan on a nationally televised game against
the New York Jets. After the season ended, Moon was traded to the Minnesota Vikings.
Without Moon, the Oilers finished the next season 2–14, the third-worst record for
a full season in franchise history. The Oilers would never make the playoffs again in Texas.
However, they did draft Steve McNair in 1995. Final years in Houston
At the same time, Adams again lobbied the city for a new stadium, one with club seating
and other revenue generators present in recently built NFL stadiums, and he committed to pay
for 25% of the cost of a new stadium. His idea called for a downtown domed stadium that
could also be reconfigured to accommodate the NBA's Houston Rockets–similar to San
Antonio's Alamodome. Mayor Bob Lanier initially supported Adams' bid for a new stadium privately,
but refused to publicly support the project. Although Houstonians wanted to keep the Oilers,
they were leery of investing more money on a stadium so soon after the Astrodome improvements.
The city was also still struggling to recover from the oil collapse of the 1980s. Adams,
sensing that he was not going to get the stadium he wanted, began shopping the Oilers to other
cities. He was particularly intrigued by Nashville, and opened secret talks with mayor Phil Bredesen.
At the end of the 1995 season, Adams announced that the Oilers would be moving to Nashville
for the 1998 season. City officials there promised to contribute $144 million toward
a new stadium, as well as $70 million in ticket sales.
Soon after the move was announced, support for the Oilers in the Houston area dried up
almost overnight. As a result, the 1996 season was an unmitigated disaster. Only three games
attracted crowds of more than 30,000 people. Games were so quiet that it was possible to
hear conversations on the field from the grandstand. Meanwhile, the team's radio network, which
once stretched across the state of Texas, was reduced to flagship KTRH in Houston and
a few affiliates in Tennessee. By October 1996, KTRH was cutting off games prior to
their finish in favor of Houston Rockets preseason games. The Oilers got off to a 5–2 start,
but a stretch of four losses in five games took them out of playoff contention. The team
went 8–8, finishing 6–2 in road games and only 2–6 in home games. The team's final
game in Houston, against the Bengals on December 15, attracted just over 15,000 people—by
at least one estimate, the smallest crowd in franchise history. Adams, the city and
the league were unwilling to see this continue for another season, so a deal was reached
on May 8, 1997 to let the Oilers out of their lease a year early and move to Tennessee.
The Oilers lost their final game in Houston 21–13.
In 1999, Robert McNair was awarded, at a cost of $1 billion, an expansion team which replaced
the Oilers in Houston. The franchise became the Houston Texans, which adopted a similar
red, white and blue team color tandem, albeit in darker shades and inherited the sports
complex the Oilers had played in, but not the Oilers' former home; what is now called
NRG Stadium would be built next door to the Astrodome in 2002.