Team History: Adams brings pro football to Houston, then creates Titans in Tennessee
Team History: Adams brings pro football to Houston, then creates Titans in Tennessee
The Tennessee Titans started like many other modern AFC teams, as members of the American Football League. Originally based in Texas, the franchise moved more than 500 miles to the northeast before the 1997 season. One man was responsible for the franchise’s founding and moving to Tennessee.
Kenneth “Bud” Adams, Jr. was a member of the Cherokee Nation on his mother’s side. Two of his great-grandmothers married European-American men who were in the oil industry. His father became president of the Phillips Petroleum Company, and Bud started an oil company that would eventually become Adams Resources & Energy.
After serving in World War II’s Pacific Theater as a junior grade Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, Adams turned his attention to professional football. He joined with fellow oilman Lamar Hunt to try and purchase the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals and move them to Texas, but they were turned down. Adams also failed to convince the NFL to give him an expansion team, so he fielded a team in Hunt’s new league, the AFL. He chose Lou Rymkus, a five-time champion with the Cleveland Browns, as the first head coach.
Hunt convinced Adams that two teams in Texas would create a necessary regional rivalry which would help the AFL succeed. Adams’ Houston team would be called the Oilers, while Hunt would lead the Dallas Texans. The teams split two games in the league’s first season in 1960, but the Oilers won the AFL’s East Division thanks to the quarterback-wide receiver combination of George Blanda and Bill Groman, as well as a defense that forced 25 interceptions.
Houston played in the first AFL Championship game, and Blanda’s three touchdown passes gave his team a 24-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Oilers went 10-3-1 the following year and repeated their title victory against the now San Diego Chargers, this time by a 10-3 score. The only touchdown was a pass from Blanda to Billy Cannon, a Heisman Trophy-winning running back who signed with Houston despite interest from NFL teams. Cannon led the AFL with 948 rushing yards.
In the AFL’s third season, the Oilers matched the Texans with an 11-3 record and the teams of the two oil tycoons faced off in the 1962 AFL title game. Houston came from 17-0 down using their double-wing offense. Fullback Charlie Tolar lived up to his nickname of the “human bowling ball,” with his one-yard dive tying the score. Cornerback Dave Grayson blocked Blanda’s potential game-winning 42-yard field goal attempt to send the game into overtime.
The first overtime ended on Blanda’s fifth interception, and Dallas running back Jack Spikes started the second period with a 10-yard pass from Len Dawson and 19 rushing yards to set up rookie Tommy Brooker’s 25-yard field goal. The kick gave Dallas a 20-17 win and spoiled Houston’s chancing of winning three straight championship games.
Four losing seasons followed, but the Oilers returned to the postseason under Wally Lemm, who went 9-0 after taking over for Rymkus in 1961. He spent the next four seasons leading the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals before coming back to Houston.
The Oilers went 9-4-1 and reached the AFL Championship Game with the right to play in Super Bowl II on the line. Unfortunately, the team ran into the 13-1 Oakland Raiders, who had Blanda as their kicker. Oakland’s defense held Houston to 146 yards in the 40-7 loss. Two years later, the Oilers fell to the Raiders in the Division round, this time 56-7.
An eight-year playoff drought followed, but Houston finally reached the postseason with a 10-6 record in 1978 thanks to All-Pro running back Earl Campbell and quarterback Dan Pastorini. Houston won road games over Miami and New England before the 14-2 Steelers held the Oilers to 142 yards in a 34-5 loss in the AFC Championship Game.
Houston went 11-5 in each of the next two seasons. Campbell was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1979 after leading the league with 1,697 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. Close playoff wins over the Broncos and Chargers set up a return to the AFC title game. Campbell was held to just 15 yards in a 27-13 Pittsburgh win.
The following year, Campbell ran for a league-high 1,934 yards and 13 scores, but the Oilers fell 27-7 to the Raiders in the Wild Card round.
After six losing seasons, Houston returned to the playoffs in 1987 with a pass-first offense led by quarterback Warren Moon, Pro Bowl running back Mike Rozier and receivers Ernest Givins and Drew Hill. The Oilers edged the Seahawks in a Wild Card game but fell to the Broncos the following week.
Houston went to the postseason seven straight years, mostly under head coach Jack Pardee, but the Oilers did not get past the Division round. The most memorable loss came to the Bills in the 1992 Wild Card game. Houston led 35-3 early in the third quarter, but backup quarterback Frank Reich led Buffalo to a 41-38 overtime win in the largest comeback victory in NFL playoff history.
Moon left in 1994, and Pardee was fired during a 2-14 season. He was replaced by defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher, who had spent the previous two years as a defensive backs coach in San Francisco.
While the team was bottoming out on the field, Adams was getting frustrated. In 1987, he threatened to move the team to Jacksonville unless the Astrodome was renovated. Harris County responded by giving $67 million to add 10,000 new seats, luxury boxes and put in new AstroTurf.
In the mid-1990s, Adams wanted a new domed stadium in downtown Houston, but taxpayers were wary of giving more money to the team so soon after renovating the Astrodome. After the 1995 season, Adams announced he was moving the team to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1998. However, the fans and media abandoned the Oilers, leading to the city letting Adams out of his lease a year early.
The new stadium being built for the team would not be ready until 1998, so the Oilers played their first two seasons in Memphis. The fans in Memphis knew the team would be leaving soon, so they refused to attend games. In response, Adams took the team to Nashville in 1998, playing in Vanderbilt Stadium, despite its small size.
Before the 1999 season, Adams decided to change the name of the team to something that reflected power and strength. The name Titans were chosen to match with the team’s new home of Nashville, which is known as the “Athens of the South.”
On the field, the Titans had a resurgence under Fisher. The team went a franchise-best 13-3, led by three first-round draft picks in quarterback Steve McNair (1995), running back Eddie George (1996) and defensive end Jevon Kearse (1999).
Tennessee got revenge on the Bills for their 1992 playoff loss in the Wild Card round. Leading by a point in the closing seconds, Buffalo had a short kickoff. Fullback Lorenzo Neal handed the ball to tight end Frank Wycheck, who threw a cross-field pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson. The Bills were caught out of position and Dyson ran back the “Home Run Throwback” 75 yards for the game-winning score. The 22-16 victory was later dubbed the “Music City Miracle.”
The Titans held off Peyton Manning and the Colts, 19-16, in the Division round. McNair passed for a touchdown and ran for two more in Tennessee’s 31-14 win over Jacksonville in the AFC Championship Game.
In Super Bowl XXXIV, the St. Louis Rams jumped out to a 16-0 lead, but George ran for two touchdowns as the Titans tied the score with 2:12 remaining. The team that was known as the “Greatest Show on Turf” earned its nickname. The Rams took the lead on the next play from scrimmage, with Kurt Warner hitting Isaac Bruce with a 73-yard touchdown pass for a 23-16 advantage.
Tennessee started the final drive on the 12. After a pair of completions, a McNair scramble was aided by a Dre Bly facemask penalty, moving play into St. Louis territory. The quarterback then found Dyson with a pass to the Rams’ 10-yard-line and the Titans used their last timeout with six seconds left.
On the final play, McNair found Dyson on a slant, but linebacker Mike Jones wrapped up Dyson’s legs and his reach fell mere inches short, preserving St. Louis’ victory.
The Titans made the playoffs five more times under Fisher, but an AFC Championship Game loss to the Raiders in 2002 was as close as they would get to their first title since the AFL days. Fisher retired after the 2010 season, and the team has reached the postseason only one time since.
Adams died at age 90 in October 2013, and ownership was controlled by a consortium including Adams’ two daughters, a daughter-in-law and two grandsons. Daughter Amy Adams Strunk took over as controlling owner two years after her father’s death.
Under Mike Mularkey, the Titans went 9-7 in 2017. Quarterback Marcus Mariota threw a touchdown pass (which he caught off a deflection) and ran for another in a 22-21 win over the Chiefs in Wild Card round. The second overall pick in the 2015 draft threw two more scoring passes the following week, but Tennessee fell to New England.
After a 9-7 mark under new coach and former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel, the Titans are looking to get back to the playoffs. Mariota will run an offense that includes running back Derrick Henry and tight end Delanie Walker. His protection got a whole lot better with the acquisition of guard Rodger Saffold, who played in Super Bowl LIII with the Rams. On defense, former Dolphin Cameron Wake joins Jurrell Casey in chasing down opposing quarterbacks.
-By: Kevin Rakas