The Oakland Raiders opponent in the 2002 AFC Championship Game on January 19, 2003, was the AFC South division champion Tennessee Titans. These teams had met before in league play early during the 2002 regular season—Sunday, September 29 in Oakland, with the Silver and Black winning decisively, 52-25. After that, however, the Titans had gone 9-2 in league play, before beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34-31 in overtime, on Saturday, January 11, to win their way into the Championship Game.
The Titans came into the AFC title game as probably the hottest team in the league, besides the Raiders.