The Tennessee Titans announced last week that they’d be making a permanent change to their uniform configuration, and it’s been met with mixed reviews. Starting this fall, the Titans will ditch the dark navy blue uniforms as their designated “Home” jerseys and will be rocking their light blue look as the new primary uniform.
Their white uniforms will remain the road look, with the dark blues now serving as the alternates.
But the second part of their uniform announcement garnered a much stronger reaction: in addition to making light blue the new primary look, the Titans will also be shelving their Oilers throwbacks in 2025.
The long-anticipated “Columbia Blue” Oilers look was reintroduced in 2023, and the Titans have worn them 3 times; twice against the Texans (a pair of losses) and once against the Falcons. You’ll remember that game as Will Levis’ electrifying 4 TD debut, which probably feels like a very long time ago at this point.
This decision was universally panned online by angry and disappointed fans. Many consider the Oilers throwbacks to be the best alternate jerseys in the entire league, and I’m inclined to agree with them. Why is the team taking them away from us now, after just three games in two years wearing them? Why are they depriving us of Cam Ward in Columbia Blue?
Any answer to that question right now is mere speculation. Perhaps this is all part of a long-term rebranding campaign, tied in some way to New Nissan Stadium being unveiled in 2027. In their official team website article addressing these changes, the talking points revolved around the light blue identify the Titans have embraced over and over since coming to Tennessee in the first place.
If that’s truly the rationale… ok, I guess. That’s hardly a compelling detail to even the most diehard fan. What I think it probably does speak to, however, is the overlap between the Oilers look and the light blue uniforms. They’re slightly different shades, and the peripheral details are all different—such as the use of the color red on the throwbacks—but there is a general overlap in the look that may be leaving team executives wanting to take a break from the Oilers digs.
Anecdotally, Oilers merch has been by far the most popular thing sold by the Titans the past couple seasons. Just two years into it being available, it’s among the most common attire in the stadium on game days. I wouldn’t be surprised if Titans brass, hyper-focused on identity and the historical bad blood between the Adams family and their former (and current) home town, wanted to step away from the old for a moment and embrace the now.
Whatever the reason ultimately is, it’s unclear so far. Maybe they’re simply tired of wearing them as a bad football team. Time will tell.
