It wasn’t bad enough the Tennessee Titans decided to take the Houston Oilers throwback jerseys out of mothballs. The Titans have decided to wear the throwbacks specifically for the Houston Texans in their Week 15 matchup at Nissan Stadium.
The Oilers are a tender subject for Houston sports fans. So many of their NFL memories are associated with Bum Phillips, Earl Campbell, Robert Brazile, Warren Moon, and others who are now considered Titans greats. The late Bud Adams, who founded the franchise, would not leave team records and jerseys with the city of Houston, not like Art Modell did with the Cleveland Browns as he took the guts of the franchise to begat the Baltimore Ravens in 1996.
The more the Titans use the Oilers insensitively towards Houstonians, as exemplified by picking the Week 15 game to sport them, the more the city must distance itself from the Oilers.
Here are four ways the Texans can help Houston let the past die.
1. Disown Oilers who side the Adams family
Of course the Adams family has the rights to the Oilers franchise records, jerseys, and logos. However, there is no need to take sides in the argument.
Consider how outspoken Warren Moon and Robert Brazile were about the subject of whether the Texans franchise should have ownership of the Oilers. There was no need to insert themselves into the conflict, even if asked direct questions.
Johnny Unitas had the best response when Robert Irsay moved the Baltimore Colts in the middle of the night to Indianapolis in 1984: he disavowed the franchise. Unitas went as far as to petition the Pro Football Hall of Fame to indicate his bust say “Baltimore Colts” and have nothing to do with Indianapolis.
Go to M&T Bank Stadium sometime and take a gander at the Ravens Ring of Honor, and guess what you’ll see. Unitas’ name. Why is it there? Because Unitas declared he played for Baltimore, not the Colts.
In a similar vein, any Oilers legend needs to remember they played for Houston. They can even thank Bud Adams for the opportunity, how much fun it was, and even say that Amy Adams Strunk is as great of a caretaker of the franchise as her father — or something. There is absolutely no need for an Oilers legend to get caught up in this squabble. And any former player who does side the Titans needs to never be honored at NRG Stadium again.
Of course, Unitas was a three-time NFL Championship Game winner and part of a world championship in Super Bowl V. His outlook as a champion may be different than that on someone whose legacy is tied up in a team because they couldn’t win the big one.
2. Keep beating the Dallas Cowboys
Without arguing the point, playing the Cowboys is Houston’s Super Bowl.
The Oilers compiled a 3-5 record against the Cowboys while in Houston. It took the Oilers three tries to finally topple Dallas.
Consider the Texans punched the Cowboys right in the mouth as their opening salvo as an expansion team — on ESPN Sunday Night Football for a nationally televised audience to witness.
In fact, a nationally televised games are the venue where the Texans have beaten the Cowboys. Dallas holds a 4-2 advantage, but both of those losses couldn’t be hidden in some regional coverage on FOX or CBS.
The Texans have a chance to face Dallas again in 2024 if both clubs finish in the same spots in their respective divisions. If the Texans win that matchup, they will have matched the Oilers’ win total in as many tries and only taken 23 seasons to do so, not the 37 (1960-69 were AFL seasons) that it took the Oilers.
3. Beat the Titans — especially when wearing Oilers throwbacks
One can understand the Titans franchise busting out the Oilers throwbacks against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8. The team owns the threads — why not take advantage of the expanded helmet rules and showcase the uniforms? Albeit a painful reminder for Houston sports fans, the Oilers uniforms are a throwback to a variety of exciting NFL highlights and momentous contests, and fans from the other 31 enjoy seeing them.
However, wearing the uniforms against the Texans is a slap in the face to Clutch City, and it’s intellectually dishonest to act like it isn’t.
To remedy the problem, Houston needs to beat Tennessee anytime they want to wear Oilers throwbacks. If the Texans can build a large enough ledger or associate the jerseys with a key loss for the Titans, they will go back in the wardrobe.
Consider the New York Giants’ red jerseys from the mid-2000s. The G-Men wore a strange red top around the first Sunday after Thanksgiving from 2004-07. What factored into abandoning the red jerseys was their 1-3 record in the NFC East.
If the Titans lose in Oilers jerseys, their fans will associate them with bad luck.
Tennessee currently leads the series 23-19. Throw in a couple sweeps over the next two seasons, and Houston starts to turn the page on the rivalry. If the Titans fall apart at any point, as they did from 2011-15, it could create enough distance to give the Texans the upper hand for good.
4. Win a Super Bowl
The reality is the Oilers were nothing more than a lovable loser, a Jan Brady in both the AFC Central dominated by the Pittsburgh Steelers and also the state of Texas ruled by the Cowboys. With the bitter divorce factored in, Houston fans should be thankful the Oilers left.
After winning the first two AFL title games, Houston lost to the Dallas Texans in 1962, and that was the closest the Oilers ever came to winning a league championship. Aside from the Oilers’ appearances in AFC Championship Games from 1978-79, Houston has hardly been close.
Even the Titans have carried that bridesmaid success to Tennessee. The closest they have come to winning a Super Bowl is a yard short in Super Bowl XXIV, and Kevin Dyson would have merely tied the game anyway, not delivered a victory for Tennessee.
The moment the Texans win a Super Bowl, no one should let anything Oilers or Adams rattle them again. Who cares about a team that couldn’t even get into the Big Game while they were in the Astrodome? At that point, Houston sports fans should have the last laugh as the Titans cling to their past while Texans fans celebrate a Lombardi present.
