The Tennessee Titans are one of the newest brands in the NFL. Other than the Houston Texans, there’s no franchise in the NFL with a newer identity than the Titans. Though other teams have relocated since the Tennessee franchise arrived from Houston, they’ve all kept their nicknames. The Rams, Chargers, and Raiders have all remained the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders, even as their locations have changed.
But before the Titans became the Titans, there was a brief, undignified period where they hadn’t quite arrived in Tennessee. The Nashville-based franchise didn’t yet have a home stadium, playing their home games at Memphis and Vanderbilt, sporting a name that reflected their “neither here nor there” identity: the Tennessee Oilers.