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The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996. They began play as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) and won two AFL championships before joining the NFL in the AFL–NFL merger of the late 1960s.
The Oilers competed in the AFL's AFC East—along with the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, and Boston Patriots—until the merger, when they joined the newly formed AFC Central. The team played home games at Jeppesen Stadium and Rice Stadium during its first eight seasons, and thereafter at the Astrodome.
The Oilers were the first champions of the AFL, winning the 1960 and 1961 championships, but never won another. They appeared in the 1962 AFL Championship, losing in double overtime to their in-state rivals, the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs); the Oilers also won the AFL East division title in 1967 and qualified for the 1969 AFL playoffs, both times losing to the Oakland Raiders (which are now the Las Vegas Raiders). From 1978 to 1980, the Oilers, led by Bum Phillips and in the midst of the Luv Ya Blue campaign, appeared in and lost the 1978 and 1979 AFC Championship Games. They were a consistent playoff team from 1987 to 1993, an era that included both of the team's only division titles (1991 and 1993), as well as the dubious distinction of being on the losing end of the second largest comeback in NFL history. For the rest of the Oilers' time in Houston, they compiled losing seasons in almost every other year.
The 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.
The Oilers were owned by Bud Adams, who began threatening to move the team in the late 1980s, and finally did so after the 1996 season. He moved the team to Tennessee, where they played as the Tennessee Oilers in Memphis for the 1997 season, then in Nashville for the 1998 season. In 1999, to coincide with the opening of their new stadium, Adams changed the team's 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's name was retired by then-NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, thus preventing a future Houston National Football League (NFL) team from using the Oilers' name.
Later Houston-based football teams have paid homage to the Oilers. The Houston Roughnecks, an XFL team founded in 2020, shares their name with the Oilers' old mascot and used a logo that resembled the Oilers' until they changed it under pressure from the NFL. The University of Houston football team wore Oilers-style throwback uniforms during the Cougars' 2023 season opener against UTSA.
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, which did not exist until 2002.) 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 (later 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 6–7–2.
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, quarterback Dan Pastorini and top receiver Ken Burrough. 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 (4 INTs and a blocked FG) 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 excellent 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.
In the 1993 season, the Oilers finished with a 12–4 record, their best record ever in Texas, and another AFC Central title. However, the 1993 season is best remembered for its internal conflict; "Team Turmoil" began 1–4 start but then won their final 11 games. Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan brawled during the final game of the regular season (nationally broadcast on ESPN) against the New York Jets. They lost the Chiefs in the Divisional round 28–20 in what would prove to be the final playoff game for the Houston Oilers. After the season, Adams began to rebuild the team by releasing or trading most of their stars and free agents, notably Moon to the Minnesota Vikings. This gutting would have likely have happened anyway, as the team was projected to be over the salary cap for 1994 in the first year the cap would be in effect. A Football Life: Houston '93
The Oilers finished the next season 2–14, the third-worst record for a full season in franchise history and the steepest season-to-season decline in NFL history (a record later tied by the 2013 Houston Texans). The Oilers would never make the playoffs again in Texas. However, they did draft Steve McNair in 1995.
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 from ongoing games to broadcast 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, Bob McNair was awarded, at a cost of $1 billion, an expansion team to replace the Oilers in Houston. The franchise became the Houston Texans, which adopted a similar red-white-and-blue scheme, 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 (formerly Reliant Stadium) would be built next door to the Astrodome in 2002. Brad Hopkins was the last player on the Titans who played for the Oilers when he retired in 2005. Jon Runyan was the last active NFL player to have played for the Oilers when he retired in 2009.
| October 1, 2006 |
| September 15, 2019 |
| September 15, 2019 |
| August 13, 1987 |
| November 6, 1994 |
| August 4, 1983 |
| December 8, 2002 |
| 1968–83 |
| 1960–66 |
| 1975-84 |
| 1978–84 |
| 1980–83 |
| 1974–80 |
| 1967–72 |
| 1966 |
| 1969–72 |
| 1983–96 |
| 1984–93 |
| 1982–93 |
| 1980–81 |
| 1964 |
| 1973–74 |
| Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame |
| 65 | Elvin Bethea | DE | 1968–83 | December 9, 1999 |
| 16 | George Blanda | QB/K | 1960–66 | |
| 34 | Earl Campbell | RB | 1978–84 | |
| — | Mike Holovak | General Manager | 1989–93 | |
| 29 | Ken Houston | S | 1967–72 | |
| 63 | Mike Munchak | G | 1982–93 | |
| 43 | Jim Norton | P | 1960–68 | |
| 74 | Bruce Matthews | OL | 1983–96 | December 8, 2002 |
| 1 | Warren Moon | QB | 1984–93 | October 1, 2007 |
| — | Bud Adams | Owner/founder | 1959–96 | September 7, 2008 |
| 27 | Eddie George | RB | 1996 | October 27, 2008 |
| 9 | Steve McNair | QB | 1995–96 | |
| 41/89 | Frank Wycheck | TE | 1995–96 | |
| 52 | Robert Brazile | LB | 1975–84 | October 14, 2018 |
| — | Bum Phillips | Coach | 1975-80 | September 26, 2021 |
| — | Jeff Fisher | Coach | 1994-96 | November 21, 2021 |
| — | Floyd Reese | Coach/GM | 1986-96 | |
| 84 | Billy "White Shoes" Johnson | WR | 1974–80 | December 17, 2023 |
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