We did this over here earlier for the baseball playoffs and it was a lot of fun.  So as the NFL playoffs begin, let’s look again at where the names of the competitors come from.  Starting with the AFC:

The Tennessee Titans
The Titans have some of the most fun name history out of the whole bunch.  The Titans used to be the Tennessee Oilers, and the Tennessee Oilers used to be the former AFL team the Houston Oilers (which makes a lot more sense).  So the team changed its name in 1999 and became the Titans, therefore picking up a bit of legacy from the former (and also former AFL team) New York Titans, who became the New York Jets.  So in one team’s name, you can draw associations to three other teams!  There isn’t much of a story behind the Titans name, it was changed to coincide with the team getting a new stadium, (the Oilers name only was around for two years) and it was supposed to be less geographically specific as the Oilers and reflect powerful, intimidating qualities. Read the full story