Houston Texans: Power ranking the top 5 all-time rivalries

1. Tennessee Titans

While a convincing argument can be made that the Indianapolis Colts should be viewed as the primary rival for the Houston Texans, we’ll give the edge to the Tennessee Titans in this list.

Why? For a number of reasons actually.

For starters, the Titans used to be the Houston Oilers. Bud Adams founded the team way back in 1960 and had the franchise playing in the Houston metropolitan area for two decades before rumors started to swirl that Adams was considering relocating his team.

Things kicked into overdrive when Adams expressed his displeasure with the Oilers’ accommodations at the old Astrodome. Frustrated that his vision wasn’t getting realized, he threatened to move the team to Jacksonville at the end of the 80s, and then finally pulled the trigger on a move to Nashville during the 90s.

Clearly, there’s some history here that could be considered bad blood.

Many longtime Houstonians will recall that their hard-earned tax money went into the Astrodome renovations, and many felt betrayed to learn that Adams still decided to move the team less than 10 years after these renovations were completed.

Beyond the historical ties between these franchises and the fact that the Titans were once Houston’s team and took all of the Oilers’ historical records, achievements, and accomplishments with them out the door and up to Tennessee, there’s also the simple fact that these two teams share a division in the AFC South.

And while the Texans have largely beaten up on the Jaguars and been beaten up by the Colts since the inception of the franchise, Houston’s all-time record against Tennessee is substantially more balanced and competitive.

The Texans are 17-19 against the Titans in 36 regular season meetings. In fact, these two rivals have split their season series four straight years now, with each going 3-1 at home during this recent span.

What do you think?

Do you agree with our list, or would you have re-ordered it? Perhaps you’d even swap one of these five teams out for someone else?

Let us know in the comments section what your reactions are — just make sure you make a good argument too!