The

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

was the 31st season and their 21st in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). The Oilers scored 405 points which ranked second in the AFC and second overall in the NFL. Their defense gave up 307 points. During the season, the Oilers appeared once on

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

and defeated the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

. On December 16, 1990,

Warren Moon Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956) is an American former professional Gridiron football, football player who was a quarterback for 23 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He spent most of h ...

threw for 527 yards in a game against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

. Moon was part of the Oilers "

Run and shoot The run and shoot offense (also known as Run N' Shoot) is an offensive system for American football which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former ...

" era. The run and shoot offense also incorporated teammates

Ernest Givins Ernest Pastell Givins Jr. (born September 3, 1964), is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Houston Oilers. Early life and college Giv ...

, Drew Hill, Haywood Jeffires and

Curtis Duncan Curtis Everett Duncan (born January 26, 1965), is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Houston Oilers in the 10th round of the 1987 NFL draft. A ...

. The 1990 season saw the Oilers appear in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. They finished tied for first in the AFC Central with the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, as all three teams finished with identical 9–7 records. The Bengals would be awarded the division title by having a better division record than Houston or Pittsburgh. The Oilers would win the tiebreaker over the Steelers by having a better division record than them. This placed them in second place behind Cincinnati, who would turn out to be their playoff opponent. However, they would have to play their playoff game without Moon, who dislocated his thumb two weeks before the season ended when he hit his thumb on the helmet of defender James Francis. Cody Carlson was tapped to start in what became his only career playoff start. As a result, the Oilers were embarrassed by the Bengals 41–14 in the wild card game, in what was Cincinnati's last playoff win until 2021, being outgained 349–226 in total yards and committing 2 turnovers in the defeat.

Offseason

NFL draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

Playoffs

AFC Wild Card

Awards and records

* Ray Childress, 1990 AFC Pro Bowl selection *

, Pro Bowl selection * Drew Hill, Ranked second in AFC in receptions * Haywood Jeffires, Led AFC in Receptions * Warren Moon, NFL leader, passing yards (4,689) * Warren Moon, Pro Bowl selection * Warren Moon,

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

selection (1990) * Warren Moon, NEA NFL MVP * Warren Moon,

NFL Offensive Player of the Year The National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award is an annual American football award given by various organizations to the National Football League (NFL) player who is considered the top offensive player during the regular season. O ...

* Warren Moon,

UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year From 1960 to 1969, the United Press International (UPI) gave the annual AFL Player of the Year award in the American Football League, whose teams in 1970 became the American Football Conference (AFC) of the new National Football League Th ...

* Warren Moon, Houston Oilers record, most passing yards in one game (527)

Milestones

* Haywood Jeffires – 1st 1,000 Yard Receiving Season (1,048 yards) * Drew Hill – 4th 1,000 Yard Receiving Season (1,019 yards) *

, 2nd 400 Yard Passing Game (527)

References

External links

1990 Houston Oilers
at

Pro-Football-Reference.com Pro Football Reference (PFR) is an online statistics database for professional American football maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for players, teams, and games, as well as records and NFL draft history. PFR was ...

Houston Oilers seasons

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

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