Tennessee Titans

From the Houston Oilers to the Tennessee Titans: a legacy of AFL championships, Hall of Famers, and 2,000-yard rushers.

via Wikipedia: 2020 Tennessee Titans season · see source

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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The Titans play their home games at Nissan Stadium; the team will move to an indoor stadium with the same name in 2027.

Quick Facts

Highest scoring game: 78 combined points (Week 3 vs. Lions, 2012)
Most offense in season: 607 yards (Week 3 vs. Lions, 2012)

Lore & Background

Originally known as the Houston Oilers, the team was founded in 1959 by Houston oil tycoon Bud Adams, who remained the owner until his death in 2013. The team 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 playoff appearances from 1978 to 1980 and from 1987 to 1993, with Hall of Famers Earl Campbell and Warren Moon, respectively.

In 1997, the Oilers moved to Nashville, Tennessee, playing at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, for one season while waiting for a new stadium to be constructed. The team moved to Nashville's Vanderbilt Stadium in 1998. For those two seasons, the team was known as the Tennessee Oilers, but changed its name to the Titans for the 1999 season, when they moved into Adelphia Coliseum, now known as Nissan Stadium. The Titans' training facility is in Saint Thomas Sports Park, a 31-acre site at the MetroCenter complex in Nashville.

The Titans played in Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, losing 23–16 to the St. Louis Rams. Led by Steve McNair and Eddie George, they made the playoffs in all but one season from 1999 to 2003, but only twice in the next 13 years. From 2016 to 2021, the Titans had six consecutive winning seasons and four playoff appearances.

Reader's Guide

The Titans are the only NFL team to have two players rush for 2,000 yards in a season: Chris Johnson (2009) and Derrick Henry (2020). The team's history includes the Houston Oilers era (1960–1996), the Tennessee Oilers era (1997–1998), and the Tennessee Titans era (1999–present). Key figures include Bud Adams, Earl Campbell, Warren Moon, Steve McNair, Eddie George, Chris Johnson, and Derrick Henry.