History of the Houston Oilers The professional American football team now known as the Tennessee Titans was originally called the Houston Oilers . Based in Houston , Texas , the team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League . The Oilers won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL – NFL Merger . The Oilers competed in the East Division ( along with Buffalo , New York and Boston ) of the AFL before the merger , after which they joined the newly - formed AFC Central . The Oilers throughout their existence were owned by Bud Adams and played its home games at the Astrodome for the majority of its time in Houston ( Jeppesen Stadium and Rice Stadium hosted the Oilers for their first eight years ) . The Oilers were the first champions of the American Football League , winning the 1960 and 1961 contests , but never again 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 , the Oilers appeared in the 1978 and 1979 AFC Championship Games ( but losing both ) . The Oilers were a consistent playoff team from 1987 to 1993 , an era that included both of the Oilers ' only division titles ( 1991 and 1993 ) , 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 were generally in the second division of the league , compiling losing seasons in almost every year outside the aforementioned high points . The Oilers ' main colors were light blue and white , with red trim , while their logo was a simple derrick . Oilers jerseys were always light blue for home and white for away . The helmet color , however , was light blue with a white derrick between 1960 and 1974 , before changing to a white helmet with a blue derrick beginning in 1975 and lasting the remainder of the team ' s time in Houston . Owner Bud Adams relocated the Oilers to Nashville , Tennessee , changing the team name to the Tennessee Titans in 1999 , and the color scheme from Columbia Blue , Red and White to Titans Blue , Navy , and White . The new Titans franchise retained the Oilers ' team history and records , while the team name and colors were officially retired by then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue . 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 ( all three would go on to own their franchises for over forty years , whereas the others pulled out by the 1980s ) . 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 ( then in San Diego ) in 1961 . ( In 2012 , the retail outlet Old Navy earned infamy for selling a shirt that misidentified the 1961 AFL champions as the Houston Texans , who did not exist until 2002 . ) They 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 yd , from Jacky Lee , against the San Diego Chargers . In Canadian football , paid players have caught passes for touchdowns in excess of 100 yards since the playing field is 110 yards long . 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 for the 1968 season . Previously , the Oilers had played at Jeppesen Stadium at the University of Houston ( now called Robertson Stadium ) 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 ( owners of the Houston Astros ) 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 - 6 - 1 . 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 Gilman 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 draft ed University of Texas football star Earl Campbell , 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 , who would not lose another home playoff game until 2009 . 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 and Campbell gaining 1600 yards in the regular season , and again earned a wild card spot . Passing the Broncos in the first home playoff game in Houston in over a decade , the Oilers paid dearly with injuries to Campbell , Pastorini and Burroughs . Somehow the Oilers edged by then high - flying San Diego in the divisional round of Dan Fouts , thanks in no small part to the spectacular play of Vernon Perry ( 4 ints and a blocked fg ) . The Oilers returned to the AFC Championship came 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 . The team suffered through more lean years in the early 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 . A frustrated 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 - shorted 1982 season . Another miserable year followed in 1983 , as 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 offseason . In 1984 , the Oilers won a bidding war for CFL legend 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 offseason and replaced by Mike Rozier from University of Nebraska . In week 14 of the 1985 season , Hugh Campbell was replaced by Jerry Glanville , who saw the team through the last two games to finish 5 - 9 . A 31 - 3 rout of Green Bay on 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 as always the team could only manage a wild card . 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 ( later the home of Jacksonville Jaguars ) unless the Astrodome was " brought up to date . " At the time the Astrodome only 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 ( some would say expulsion ) 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 a 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 . " Adams had been blamed for the team ' s previous spells of incompetence , largely because he had overly micromanaged the Oilers ( for instance , all expenditures over $ 200 required his personal approval ) . He displayed this tendency again before the 1993 season . After three losses in the wild card playoffs and three losses in the divisional playoffs , he gave the Oilers an ultimatum – unless they made the Super Bowl in 1993 , he would break up the team . While the Oilers responded with a 12 – 4 record , their best record ever in Texas , and another AFC Central title , they lost in the second round to the Chiefs . Adams made good on his threat to hold a fire sale , most significantly trading Moon to the Minnesota Vikings . Without Moon , the Oilers appeared to be a rudderless team . They finished the next season 2 – 14 , the third - worst record for a full season in franchise history . The Oilers managed to get back to respectability over the next two years , but would never make the playoffs again in Texas . However , they did manage to establish the future cornerstone of the offense by drafting 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 . However , mayor Bob Lanier turned him down almost out of hand . 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 . At that point , support for The Oilers in the Houston area all but disappeared . The 1996 season was a disaster for the Oilers ; they played before crowds of fewer than 20 , 000 and 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 , was reduced to the flagship station in Houston and a few affiliates in Tennessee , and was cutting off games prior to their finish in favor of preseason basketball . The team went 8 – 8 , finishing 6 – 2 in road games and only 2 – 6 in home games . Adams , the city and the league were unwilling to see this continue for another season , so a deal was reached to let the Oilers out of their lease a year early and move to Tennessee .