Tennessee Titans · History

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football franchise based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club was founded in Houston in 1959 as the Oilers, a charter member of the AFL, and took its current name in 1999. Tennessee competes in the AFC South and plays its home games at Nissan Stadium. The franchise has won two AFL championships and played in one Super Bowl.

The Houston Oilers and the first two AFL titles

Oil businessman Bud Adams was one of the eight owners who founded the AFL in 1959 and kept the club until his death in October 2013. The Oilers won the first two league championships, in 1960 and 1961, with George Blanda at quarterback and Billy Cannon at running back. Blanda was the AFL's most valuable player in 1961. Cannon had won the 1959 Heisman Trophy at LSU and signed for Houston in a deal that ended up in court, because he had also agreed terms with the Rams. In 1962 the Oilers lost the title game to the Dallas Texans in double overtime, at the time the longest game in professional football. The AFL merged with the NFL in 1970.

From Jeppesen Stadium to the Astrodome

The team played its first seasons at Jeppesen Stadium, an enlarged high school field, from 1960 to 1964, and at Rice Stadium from 1965 to 1967. In 1968 it moved into the Astrodome, the first indoor venue in the league, which it shared with baseball's Astros until 1996. During Jerry Glanville's years as head coach, from 1985 to 1989, supporters called the building the House of Pain for how uncomfortable it was for visiting teams.

Luv Ya Blue: Earl Campbell and Bum Phillips

Houston traded with Tampa Bay for the first pick of the 1978 draft and took running back Earl Campbell. Campbell was Offensive Rookie of the Year, won three consecutive rushing titles from 1978 to 1980 and was named league MVP in 1979. Under head coach Bum Phillips the Oilers reached back-to-back AFC Championship Games after the 1978 and 1979 seasons and lost both to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The period is remembered as Luv Ya Blue: tens of thousands packed the Astrodome to welcome the beaten team home. Phillips was fired following the 1980 season. Campbell entered the Hall of Fame in 1991 and the club retired his number 34.

Warren Moon and the comeback in Buffalo

Quarterback Warren Moon joined in 1984 from Edmonton, where he had won five straight Canadian league finals, and ran Houston's run-and-shoot offence until 1993. The Oilers made the playoffs seven years in a row, from 1987 to 1993, without reaching a conference final. On 3 January 1993 in Buffalo they lost 41-38 in overtime after leading 35-3 in the third quarter, the largest comeback in NFL history, handed to them by the Buffalo Bills. Moon entered the Hall of Fame in 2006, the first Black quarterback inducted. Offensive lineman Bruce Matthews spent 19 seasons with the franchise, made fourteen Pro Bowls and was inducted in 2007.

From Houston to Nashville

Adams failed to secure a new stadium in Houston and announced the move to Tennessee in 1995. The team played the 1997 season at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, more than 200 miles from its new home and in front of sparse crowds, and the 1998 season at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, still called the Tennessee Oilers. In 1999 it became the Titans, changed its logo and moved into the stadium built on the east bank of the Cumberland River. The ground opened that year with about 67,000 seats and has carried four names: Adelphia Coliseum, The Coliseum, LP Field and, since 2015, Nissan Stadium. In 2023 the city approved an enclosed stadium next door, due in 2027. Houston returned to the league in 2002 with the Houston Texans, a separate franchise: the Oilers' records and titles stayed with Tennessee.

The Music City Miracle and Super Bowl XXXIV

The 1999 season ended 13-3. On 8 January 2000, in the team's first home playoff game in Nashville, Tennessee beat Buffalo 22-16 on a kickoff return in which Frank Wycheck threw a lateral to Kevin Dyson, who ran 75 yards in the closing seconds. The play is known as the Music City Miracle. The Titans then won 19-16 at Indianapolis and 33-14 at Jacksonville to reach Super Bowl XXXIV, played on 30 January 2000 in Atlanta. They lost 23-16 to the St. Louis Rams when Mike Jones tackled Dyson one yard short of the goal line on the final snap. Jeff Fisher was the head coach, Steve McNair the quarterback and Eddie George the running back.

McNair, George and the retired numbers

McNair was the third pick of the 1995 draft, took over as starter in 1997 and shared the 2003 league MVP award with Peyton Manning. He is the leading passer in franchise history. He died in July 2009. George arrived in 1996 with the fourteenth pick, was named Offensive Rookie of the Year and ran for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first eight seasons. The retired numbers include Moon's 1, McNair's 9, George's 27, Campbell's 34, Mike Munchak's 63, Elvin Bethea's 65 and Matthews's 74. Munchak, Bethea, Blanda, Campbell, Moon, Matthews and safety Ken Houston are in the Hall of Fame.

The AFC South and the Derrick Henry years

The 2002 realignment placed the Titans in the AFC South with Houston, Indianapolis and Jacksonville. Fisher coached until 2010, seventeen seasons in all, and former Oilers guard Mike Munchak from 2011 to 2013. In January 2018 Tennessee came back from 21-3 down at Kansas City to win 22-21, its first playoff win in fifteen years. Mike Vrabel was head coach from 2018 to 2023: his team beat New England 20-13 and Baltimore 28-12 in January 2020 before losing the AFC Championship Game to the Kansas City Chiefs. Running back Derrick Henry, a second-round pick in 2016, won two rushing titles, gained 2,027 yards in 2020 and was named Offensive Player of the Year that season. Tennessee won the division in 2020 and 2021, was the AFC's top seed in 2021 and lost at home 19-16 to Cincinnati.

The southern rivalries

The games against the Indianapolis Colts defined the first decade of the AFC South, with Manning and McNair at quarterback and several division titles settled head to head. The Texans fixture carries the memory of the move: part of the Houston support dropped the club when it left and adopted the new team in 2002.

Ownership and the 2020s

Amy Adams Strunk, Bud Adams's daughter, has controlled the franchise since 2015. Henry signed with Baltimore in 2024. Brian Callahan, previously the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati, took over the sideline that year. In April 2025 the Titans selected quarterback Cam Ward with the first pick of the draft.