1979 Houston Oilers season

The 1979 Houston Oilers season was the franchise's 20th overall and the tenth in the National Football League. The franchise scored 362 points while the defense gave up 331 points. Their record of 11 wins and 5 losses resulted in a second-place finish in the AFC Central Division. The Oilers appeared once on Monday Night Football on December 10, 1979 where the sports promotion Luv ya Blue was launched and returned to the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive year. Earl Campbell would lead the NFL in rushing for the second consecutive year and set a franchise record for most touchdowns in a season with 19. The Oilers would make the playoffs again as a wild card. In the wild card game, they beat the Denver Broncos 13–7, and then defeated the San Diego Chargers 17–14 in San Diego to reach their second straight AFC Championship game. The Oilers then played the Pittsburgh Steelers, who a year earlier had eliminated them 34–5 in the previous AFC Championship game. The Oilers lost the game 27–13. The game included a controversial moment in which wide receiver Mike Renfro had a touchdown called back after the referees of the game took a long time to decide the ruling on the field. The call went down as one of the most controversial calls in NFL history.

As of 2024, this is the most recent season a Houston-based team has reached the AFC Championship Game. The Oilers franchise would not do so again for twenty seasons, by which time they had re-located and become the Tennessee Titans, while Houston's current NFL team has yet to advance past the divisional round.

NFL Films produced a documentary about the team's season entitled Luv Ya Blue, Bum Builds a Winner; it was narrated by John Facenda.