In 1997, Houston’s many football fans were suddenly left without a hometown team to cheer on for the first time since 1959. Their previous team, the Oilers, were taken by team owner Bud Adams to their new location in Tennessee (where they were renamed the Titans), and Houston fans faced the gloomy prospect of being without professional football for many years into the future. After all, the National Football League gave every indication clear that there were no expansion plans in the offing. Soon thereafter, however, the fateful decision was made to return pro football to the city of Cleveland, which would then be the thirty-first franchise in the NFL. The League’s preference for an even number of teams presented Houston with the opportunity to pursue a new franchise, which they subsequently won.

It was the sort of sloppy NFL preseason game that made the coaches more interested in escaping with as few injuries as possible than with winning or evaluating talent. In a driving rainstorm at Arrowhead Stadium the Houston Texans outlasted the Kansas City Chiefs to take a 16-10 NFL exhibition victory. It was the first game of the NFL preseason for both teams, and they were more or less happy to emerge unscathed from the deluge.

Texans coach Gary Kubiak summed up the mindset in such miserable weather conditions: