1970 Houston Oilers season

The 1970 Houston Oilers season was the 11th season overall and its first as part of the National Football League. The team failed to improve on their previous season's 6–6–2 record, winning only three games. The Oilers started the season winning two of its first three games, both road wins against the Steelers and Bengals.

The Oilers struggled the rest of the season, as they went 0–6–1 following the 2-1 start. In week five versus the Steelers in the Astrodome, starting quarterback Charley Johnson suffered a broken clavicle when he was clipped by Pittsburgh defensive tackle Chuck Hinton on an interception return. Johnson returned after missing four games but was nowhere near as effective than before the injury.

The Oilers won only one of their last 11 games, a 31–21 win over the Denver Broncos, before losing their final 3 games of the season, including a 52–10 rout by in-state rival Dallas in the finale, to finish the season 3–10–1. They missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, and for the first of eight consecutive seasons.

Schedule

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Recap
1	September 20	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 19–7	1–0	Three Rivers Stadium	45,538	Recap
2	September 27	Miami Dolphins	L 10–20	1–1	Houston Astrodome	39,840	Recap
3	October 4	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 20–13	2–1	Riverfront Stadium	55,094	Recap
4	October 11	Baltimore Colts	L 20–24	2–2	Houston Astrodome	48,050	Recap
5	October 18	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 3–7	2–3	Houston Astrodome	42,799	Recap
6	October 25	at San Diego Chargers	T 31–31	2–3–1	San Diego Stadium	41,427	Recap
7	November 1	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 0–44	2–4–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	47,911	Recap
8	November 8	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 9–24	2–5–1	Municipal Stadium	49,810	Recap
9	November 15	San Francisco 49ers	L 20–30	2–6–1	Houston Astrodome	43,040	Recap
10	November 22	at Cleveland Browns	L 14–28	2–7–1	Cleveland Stadium	74,723	Recap
11	November 29	Denver Broncos	W 31–21	3–7–1	Houston Astrodome	35,733	Recap
12	December 7	Cleveland Browns	L 10–21	3–8–1	Houston Astrodome	50,582	Recap
13	December 13	Cincinnati Bengals	L 20–30	3–9–1	Houston Astrodome	34,435	Recap
14	December 20	at Dallas Cowboys	L 10–52	3–10–1	Cotton Bowl	50,504	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.