The Tennessee Titans will wear their Houston Oilers throwback uniforms for the first and only time this season when they host the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. ET on CBS).
Founded as the Oilers in 1960, the Titans spent 37 years in Houston before moving to Tennessee in 1997, initially keeping their nickname before adopting their current moniker two seasons later.
The NFL subsequently granted an expansion franchise to Houston ahead of the 2002 season, but did not allow them to adopt the Oilers nickname, logo or colors because they were still the intellectual property of the Titans.
This has become a point of contention among fans in Houston, especially after the NFL rewrote history a few years earlier by acting as if the Baltimore Ravens were an expansion franchise despite moving from Cleveland while also allowing the Browns to return as a temporarily suspended franchise.
The Titans decided to rub salt into that wound when they wore Oilers throwback uniforms in 2009 as part of the AFL’s 50th anniversary, including a Columbia blue helmet that matched their original design.
They then introduced their current throwback design – which honors the “Luv Ya Blue” era of the late-1970s with white helmets, Columbia blue jerseys with red trim and white pants with stripes that match the helmets – last season.
The Titans wore the throwback uniforms twice last year, including a 28-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 29 and a 19-16 overtime loss to the Texans on Dec. 17, but for some reason cut the number of appearances in half this season.
In addition to the uniforms, the Titans have also painted a throwback-inspired design on the turf at Nissan Stadium for Sunday’s game. While last year’s design featured an “Oilers” wordmark in both end zones, this year’s includes “Tennessee” and a helmet against a Columbia blue background.
Photo courtesy of @Titans on X/Twitter.