Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division.

Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team was founded by Bud Adams who owned it until his death in 2013 and began play in 1960 in Houston, Texas, as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The Oilers won the first two AFL Championships along with four division titles and joined the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The Oilers made consecutive playoff appearances from 1978 to 1980 and 1987 to 1993, with Hall of Famers Earl Campbell and Warren Moon, respectively.

The team relocated from Houston to Tennessee in 1997, and played at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis for one season. The team then moved to Nashville in 1998 and played in Vanderbilt Stadium. For those two years, they were known as the “Tennessee Oilers”, but changed their name to “Tennessee Titans” for the 1999 season. The team currently plays at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, which opened in 1999 as Adelphia Coliseum. The Titans’ training facility is at Saint Thomas Sports Park, a 31-acre (13 ha) site at the MetroCenter complex in Nashville.

Throughout the club’s history, the Titans have played in the Super Bowl once (XXXIV, at the end of the 1999 NFL season); the Titans lost 23–16 to the St. Louis Rams. Led by Steve McNair and Eddie George, the Titans made the playoffs in all but one season from 1999 to 2003, but only made the playoffs twice in the next thirteen years. Since 2016, the Titans have had five consecutive winning seasons, the most since they were the Houston Oilers, and made three playoff appearances in that time.

History

Logos and uniforms

When the team debuted as the Houston Oilers in 1960, the club’s logo was an oil rig derrick. Except for minor color changes throughout the years, this logo remained the same until the team was renamed the Titans in 1999. The logo was originally called “Ol’ Riggy”, but this was dropped before the start of the 1974 season.

The Oilers’ uniforms consisted of blue or white jerseys, red trim, and white pants. From 1966 through 1971, the pants with both the blue and white jerseys were silver, to match the color of the helmets. The team commonly wore light blue pants on the road with the white jerseys from 1972 through 1994, with the exception of the 1980 season, and selected games in the mid 80s, when the team wore an all-white road combination. For selected games in 1973 and 1974, and again from 1981 through 1984, the Oilers wore their white jerseys at home. The light blue pants were discarded by coach Jeff Fisher in 1995.

From 1960 to about 1965 and from 1972 to 1974, they wore blue helmets; from 1966 to 1971, the helmets were silver; and they were white from 1975 to 1998.

During the 1997–98 period, when they were known as the “Tennessee Oilers”, the team had an alternate logo that combined elements of the flag of Tennessee with the derrick logo. The team also wore their white uniforms in home games, as opposed to their time in Houston, when their blue uniforms were worn at home – in the two years as the Tennessee Oilers, the team only wore their colored jerseys twice, for road games against the Miami Dolphins and a Thanksgiving Day game against the Dallas Cowboys; they wore all-white exclusively in their last year under the Tennessee Oilers banner.

When the team was renamed the Titans, the club introduced a new logo: a circle with three stars, similar to that found on the flag of Tennessee, containing a large “T” with a trail of flames similar to a comet. The uniforms consisted of white helmets, red trim, and either navy or white jerseys. White pants were normally worn with the navy jerseys, and navy pants were worn with the white jerseys. On both the navy and white jerseys, the outside shoulders and sleeves were light Titans blue. In a game against the Washington Redskins in 2006, the Titans wore their navy jerseys with navy pants for the first time.

Since 2000, the Titans have generally worn their dark uniforms at home throughout the preseason and regular season. They have worn white at home during daytime contests on many occasions for September home games to gain an advantage with the heat except in the 2005, 2006, and 2008 seasons.

The Titans introduced an alternate jersey in 2003 that was light Titans blue, with navy outside shoulders and sleeves. That jersey was usually worn with the road blue pants. When it was the alternate jersey from 2003 to 2007, the Titans wore the jersey twice in each regular season game (and once in the preseason). They always wore the Titans blue jersey in their annual divisional game against the Houston Texans and for other selected home games which came mostly against a team from the old AFL (American Football League). Their selection in those games were representative of the organization’s ties to Houston and the old AFL. In November 2006, the Titans introduced light Titans blue pants in a game at the Philadelphia Eagles. The pants were reminiscent of the ones donned by the Oilers. In December 2006, they combined the Titans blue pants with the Titans blue jersey to create an all Titans blue uniform – Vince Young appeared in this uniform in the cover art for the Madden NFL 08 video game.

During the 2006 season, the Titans wore seven different uniform combinations, pairing the white jersey with all three sets of pants (white, Titans blue, navy blue), the navy jersey with the white and navy pants, and the Titans blue jersey with navy and Titans blue pants. In a 2007 against the Atlanta Falcons, the Titans paired the navy blue jersey with the Titans blue pants for the first time. They also wore the navy blue jerseys with the light blue pants against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team paired the Titans blue jerseys with the white pants for the first time on November 14, 2013, in a home game against the Indianapolis Colts.

In 2008, the Titans blue jerseys became the regular home uniforms, with the navy blue jerseys being relegated to alternate status, but not worn until 2013 — see below.

In 2009, the NFL and the Hall of Fame committee announced that the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills would begin the 2009 NFL preseason in the Hall of Fame Game. The game, played on Sunday, August 9, 2009, at Canton’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Field at Fawcett Stadium, was nationally televised on NBC. The Titans defeated the Bills by a score of 21–18. In honor of the AFL’s 50th anniversary, the Titans wore Oilers’ uniforms for this game. Also in 2009, the team honored former quarterback Steve McNair by placing a small, navy blue disc on the back of their helmets with a white number nine inside of it (nine was the number McNair wore during his time with the Oilers/Titans).

From 2009 to 2012, the Titans did not wear an alternate jersey during any regular season games. It was not until 2013 that the team wore the navy blue jerseys twice in honor of the 15th anniversary as the “Titans.” The Titans wore white jerseys for all games in 2014, for the exceptions of two preseason home games, in which the team wore their light Titans blue jerseys, and an October 26, 2014, game against the Houston Texans, in which the Titans wore their navy blue uniforms.

Beginning in 2015, navy blue became the team’s primary home jersey color again, marking the first time since 2007 that the Titans wore navy as their primary home jersey, though the team plans to continue wearing white jerseys for early-season hot-weather home games. The light Titans blue jersey, which was the team’s primary jersey color from 2008 to 2014, became the team’s alternate jersey for a second time.

The Titans debuted new uniforms on April 4, 2018, at an event attended by over 10,000 fans in downtown Nashville. The uniforms retain the color palette of navy blue, Titans blue, and white; with new red and silver elements being introduced. The new helmets are navy blue with one silver sword-shaped stripe through the center and metallic gray facemasks, a change from the previous white helmets with two navy stripes and black facemasks.

Rivals

The Titans share rivalries with their three AFC South opponents (Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, and Indianapolis Colts). They also have historical rivalries with former divisional opponents such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens (formerly the original Cleveland Browns) and Buffalo Bills, and during their time as the Houston Oilers, shared an in-state rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys.

Divisional rivalries

Jacksonville Jaguars

Since their founding, the Jaguars have been seen from time to time as the Titans’ primary rival due to constantly competitive games between the two franchises. The rivalry was heated in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to the success of both franchises at the time, including a season in which Jacksonville went 14-2 and Tennessee went 13–3. That season, all three of Jacksonville’s losses (including the playoffs) came against the Titans, who went on to play in Super Bowl XXXIV. The rivalry then cooled with both teams experiencing misfortune in the late 2000s to early 2010s, but both teams ended lengthy playoff droughts in 2017.

Houston Texans

The Texans see the Titans as their primary rival due to the Titans’ previous history in Houston until their relocation to Tennessee. The Titans dominated the rivalry in the early 2000s, but the series has since evened out in the 2010s.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts have been very dominant in their rivalry with the Titans since the creation of the AFC South, with quarterbacks Peyton Manning and later Andrew Luck leading the Colts to consistent success against the Titans and the rest of the division. However, the series has become more even as of late, with the Titans sweeping the Colts in 2017 after 11 straight losses.

Other rivalries

Buffalo Bills

As the Houston Oilers, the team was first in the same division as the Buffalo Bills in the days of the AFL, but were moved to the AFC Central division following the NFL-AFL merger. Even after the Bills and Oilers were placed in separate divisions following the merger, their rivalry remained strong into the 1980s and 1990s with Warren Moon leading the Oilers up against Jim Kelly and the Bills. Two of the most iconic playoff moments in Oilers/Titans history have occurred against the Bills: the Comeback (known as “the Choke” in Houston due to the team’s historic collapse against the Bills) and the Music City Miracle, which occurred after the team moved to Nashville to become the Titans. The Bills and Titans were later featured in an “AFL legacy” game in 2009, as part of festivities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the AFL’s foundation. Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 by the league following the 41-17 Titans win in which he obscenely gestured towards the Bills sideline, as he and Bills owner Ralph Wilson had maintained a friendly rivalry and were the last living original AFL owners at that time (Adams and Wilson would die in 2013 and 2014, respectively).

Pittsburgh Steelers

After the move to the AFC Central division, they developed a strong rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers were the Oilers’ primary divisional rival and to this date, the Titans have played them more than any other NFL team. The Steelers and Oilers were competitive in the 1970s, facing off in back-to-back AFC championship games towards the end of the decade. The teams both underwent hard times in the 1980s before re-emerging in the 1990s. After the Oilers’ move to Tennessee and the re-alignment of the NFL’s divisions in 2002, the Steelers-Titans rivalry has cooled somewhat.

Baltimore Ravens

In the late 1990s and early 2000s after becoming the Titans, they had a briefly intense rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens, which flared up again when former Titans quarterback Steve McNair went to the Ravens. Following the realignment of the NFL’s divisions in 2002, the rivalry with the Ravens cooled off somewhat, though the Titans have faced off against Baltimore five times in the postseason, most recently in the 2020–21 NFL playoffs, in which they lost to the 5th seeded Ravens 20–13.

Season-by-season records

Player information

Current roster

Retired numbers

Pro Football Hall of Fame members

Texas Sports Hall of Fame

Titans/Oilers Hall of Fame

Bud Adams established the Titans/Oilers Hall of Fame after the 40th season of the franchise to honor past players and management

Franchise leaders

Bold denotes still active with team

Italics denote still active but not with team

Passing yards (regular season) (as of end of 2020 season)

Rushing yards (regular season) (as of end of 2020 season)

Receiving yards (regular season) (as of end of 2020 season)

Coaching staff

Head coaches

Current staff

Radio and television

The flagship radio station of the Titans Radio Network for several years was WKDF 103.3-FM. However WGFX 104.5-FM, the original Tennessee Oilers/Titans Radio flagship station, again serves as the Titans Radio flagship station since the 2010 season. Mike Keith is the team’s play-by-play announcer, and former Titans coach Dave McGinnis provides color commentary during games. Previous to McGinnis, former Titans tight end Frank Wycheck provided the color commentary. Larry Stone is also a part of the team, providing injury and scoring updates. The Titans Radio Network is broadcast on some 70 other stations.

The team had long resisted placing any of its games on Sirius XM Radio. According to the Titans Radio Network, this was because the Titans’ contract with Citadel Broadcasting (parent of both WKDF and WGFX) predated the arrival of satellite radio, thus there was no provision for the NFL to reserve satellite-radio rights. In 2011, the Titans were able to extend their agreement with existing radio partners while creating a provision allowing home games to be broadcast on SiriusXM. They were the final team in the NFL to reach such a deal.

Most preseason games are televised on WKRN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Nashville. WKRN-TV also airs a weekly show on Tuesday nights. The show, called Titans on 2, was most recently hosted by head coach Ken Whisenhunt and WKRN-TV anchors Cory Curtis and Audra Martin. The show is an opportunity for the coach to talk about the team’s latest matchup and looks forward to the upcoming game.

For regular season games, WTVF, the CBS affiliate for Nashville is the main station airing them. WZTV, Fox affiliate if they host an NFC team, WSMV-TV, NBC for Sunday Night Football broadcasts, and WKRN-TV, ABC for simulcasts of ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

Radio affiliates