The Oilers Are Back
Close enough. Welcome back, Oilers!
In case you missed it, and you probably did because the Titans receive absolutely no media coverage, Tennessee has rebranded once more. They went deep into the well and pulled out those old Houston Oilers uniforms that actual Houston is very mad they stole, and decided to lean into the bit.
I personally love it. It’s not perfect, and I’ll get to that, but I like it a lot.
The Oilers uniforms were one of the best images in the old NFL. When Tennessee rebranded as the Titans, we lost one of the greats. The Titans have felt like they’ve been trying to forge their own identity since that rebrand and nothing has quite worked. They originally kept the color scheme but added dark blue as a main, and the shoulder pad stripe over the top was unique in the league, but it never really popped. The new logo never really worked for me either. It felt very 90’s XTREME with the flames. Frankly I think they should have leaned more into the sword/battle imagery of the secondary logo. The flames also felt like a missed opportunity on the helmet. Instead of a boring white helmet with the logo, we could have had a flame motif special like how the Eagles helmets have wings or the Rams have horns. The Titans just always felt kinda half-assed.
The more recent rebrand was also mixed. I did not like the new font, but I liked the darker helmet and the stronger sword motif. But it again felt kinda half-assed, and I guess the team agreed because we got a rebrand pretty fast.
The new uniforms are just the Oilers again. Those gorgeous, beautiful Oilers. There are some very slight differences in the details, like the black lines in the stripes, but the Oilers are just back now. I’m not going to complain. The Oilers were a top 5 NFL look. If Tennessee is going to be rude and keep Houston from using it out of spite, they may as well get some use out of it.
The logo I’m more mixed on, but I still like it more than the flaming thumbtack. While the flames had a certain identity to it that some feel is missing from the new, more minimalist logo, I am happy to see them vanish. They did nothing for me. It looked like a stupid comet. I do think the new logo is a bit too minimalist, but it looks more like an actual shield now and I prefer the less pointy T. I also think the clean circle looks better on the helmet than it did with the flames. It’s more minimalist and modern, and I think it’s better for it.
My one issue is that I think they kinda went too Oilers. They are now just store-brand Oilers. They basically stopped short of slapping the old logo on the helmet and calling themselves the Tennessee Oilers again. One of the reasons I have long wanted the Titans to sell the Oilers branding rights back to Houston is because even now, after almost 30 years, the Oilers still feel like Houston. The Titans have felt like their own thing, and Tennessee’s own. Houston is an oil town, Nashville is not. The original rebrand made sense. You wouldn’t want a team like The St Louis 49ers, having a team named for something related to a different cultural region is bizarre (COUGH COUGH, JAZZ AND LAKERS). So while I am very happy to see the Oilers (sorta) return, it feels like Tennessee kinda gave up on trying to find the right balance of history and new identity.
I wish they kept the color scheme/uniform design and all that but tried a little bit harder to lean into the Titans theme in details. Greek mythology is a rich well to draw from for imagery, and the closest we get here is the logo kinda looks like a shield. Make the T a sword! Put a sword somewhere in there! Maybe some greek columns! Something that feels like it’s still The Titans and not The Oilers with the name sharpied over. Nothing about the rebrand feels Greek or classical. They also could have leaned a bit into music as a theme, for Nashville, but didn’t.
Tl:dr – Welcome back Oilers, wish you were slightly more Titans. Upgrade, but maybe improperly nostalgic.
Obligatory mention: The Calgary Flames are named that because Atlanta burned to the ground this one time.
Drake maye
What is ̶W̶a̶r̶r̶e̶n̶ ̶M̶o̶o̶n̶ Cam Ward so surprised about?
A definite improvement over every previous Titans uniform… and yet, it comes across to a significant extent as Amy Adams Strunk trolling Houston fans (after multiple “Oilers” vs. Texans games and the lawsuit against the University of Houston, how could it not?). A lot of Titans fans dig that, so I suppose it works on that level. It should move merchandise as well, as no defunct NFL team name/logo has likely ever sold 1/100th the merch that the Oilers have.
Now, I don’t think the Adams’ tight fist around the Oilers name and colors is entirely spiteful, it is still a family-owned team and Bud Adams himself named the Oilers. It’s easy to see why his daughter would retain an affection for the brand the family established in Houston (where her primary residence remains). Had ownership changed, I expect there would have been more willingness to sell the Oilers name, or associate with it it less significantly.
It is a definite improvement, but I agree it needs more elements that take it beyond store-brand Oilers. It needs something that screams Titans because the three stars of the Tennessee state flag are already on the logo. I would add a laurel-wreath motif where I could, because that would invoke Greco-Roman mythology and make it look less like an Oilers knockoff.
This is a good idea!
I read somewhere that the black lines in the helmet stripe are there to symbolize guitar strings. I dunno if that makes it better or not but if that’s a case, that’s a very subtle nod to the TN music scene.
That’s exactly what they are, according to the team. Honestly, it’s a neat little touch that so many modern minimalist rebrands haven’t been doing. And having the logo be much closer to the Tennessee state flag is cool. I feel like this is kind of a best of both worlds for the Titans, they get an Oilers throwback that everyone wants while still having it be a Titans uniform. If this is a signifier for where NFL uniforms are trending, I am really interested to see what other teams do.
how do you not know that you can do that? these comics never sease to amaze me