1966 American Football League season
The 1966 American Football League season was the seventh regular season of the American Football League. The league entered talks with the National Football League regarding an NFL-AFL merger, which took effect fully in 1970.
| 1966 American Football League season | |
|---|---|
| Regular season | |
| Duration | September 2 – December 18, 1966 |
| Playoffs | |
| Date | January 1, 1967 |
| Eastern Champion | Buffalo Bills |
| Western Champion | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Site | War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York |
| Champion | Kansas City Chiefs |
The season also saw the debut of the Miami Dolphins. This gave the AFL 9 teams (an odd number). A sixth official, the Line Judge, is added to the officiating crew.
The season ended when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Buffalo Bills in the AFL Championship game, and were defeated by the National Football League's Green Bay Packers in the first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game which is now known as the Super Bowl.
Division Races
The AFL had 9 teams, grouped into two divisions (the new Miami team was in the Eastern Division, which now had 5 teams), and still played a 14-game schedule. With 8 clubs, each one had played a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams. All nine teams faced each other at least once, and each team would play six others twice. Though Boston and Miami were both in the Eastern Division, they met only once that season, on November 27 (each team played Western Division teams Kansas City and Denver twice, while Boston also played San Diego twice and Miami played Oakland twice --- meaning that the Patriots and Dolphins each had a schedule that called for them to face three non-division opponents more often than they played a divisional opponent). The best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.
| Week | Eastern | Western | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Houston | 1–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Houston | 2–0–0 | Tie (KC, SD) | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | N.Y. Jets | 2–0–0 | Tie (KC, SD) | 2–0–0 |
| 4 | N.Y. Jets | 3–0–0 | Tie (KC, SD) | 3–0–0 |
| 5 | N.Y. Jets | 3–0–1 | San Diego | 4–0–0 |
| 6 | N.Y. Jets | 4–0–1 | Tie (KC, SD) | 4–1–0 |
| 7 | N.Y. Jets | 4–1–1 | San Diego | 4–1–1 |
| 8 | N.Y. Jets | 4–2–1 | Kansas City | 5–2–0 |
| 9 | Boston | 4–2–1 | Kansas City | 6–2–0 |
| 10 | Buffalo | 5–3–1 | Kansas City | 7–2–0 |
| 11 | Buffalo | 6–3–1 | Kansas City | 8–2–0 |
| 12 | Buffalo | 7–3–1 | Kansas City | 8–2–1 |
| 13 | Buffalo | 8–3–1 | Kansas City | 9–2–1 |
| 14 | Boston | 7–3–2 | Kansas City | 9–2–1 |
| 15 | Boston | 8–3–2 | Kansas City | 10–2–1 |
| 16 | Buffalo | 9–4–1 | Kansas City | 11–2–1 |
Regular season
Prior to the season, the AFL-NFL Merger was announced, including both leagues agreeing to play an annual AFL-NFL World Championship Game (later known as the Super Bowl) beginning in January 1967.
Also, the Miami Dolphins joined the AFL as the expansion team.
Results
| Home/Road | Eastern Division | Western Division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | BUF | HOU | MIA | NY | DEN | KC | OAK | SD | ||
| Eastern | Boston Patriots | 14–3 | 27–21 | 24–24 | 10–17 | 24–43 | 24–21 | 35–17 | ||
| Buffalo Bills | 10–20 | 27–20 | 58–24 | 14–3 | 38–21 | 20–42 | 17–17 | |||
| Houston Oilers | 14–38 | 20–42 | 13–20 | 24–0 | 45–7 | 31–0 | 22–28 | |||
| Miami Dolphins | 14–20 | 0–29 | 29–28 | 14–19 | 24–7 | 18–19 | 14–23 | |||
| New York Jets | 38–28 | 23–33 | 52–13 | 30–13 | 24–32 | 21–24 | 17–16 | |||
| Western | Denver Broncos | 10–24 | 40–38 | 17–7 | 7–16 | 10–56 | 3–17 | 20–17 | ||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 27–27 | 14–29 | 48–23 | 34–16 | 37–10 | 13–34 | 24–14 | |||
| Oakland Raiders | 10–31 | 38–23 | 21–10 | 28–28 | 28–10 | 10–32 | 20–29 | |||
| San Diego Chargers | 24–0 | 27–7 | 44–10 | 42–27 | 24–17 | 17–27 | 19–41 | |||
Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972. |
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playoffs
- AFL Championship Game
- Kansas City Chiefs 31, Buffalo Bills 7, January 1, 1967, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York
- Super Bowl I
- Green Bay Packers (NFL) 35, Kansas City Chiefs (AFL) 10, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
Stadium changes
- The expansion Miami Dolphins began play at the Miami Orange Bowl
- The Oakland Raiders moved from Frank Youell Field to the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
Coaching changes
Offseason
- Buffalo Bills: Lou Saban resigned. Defensive coach Joe Collier was promoted to head coach.
- Houston Oilers: Hugh Taylor was fired. Wally Lemm took over as head coach.
- Miami Dolphins: George Wilson became the expansion team's first head coach.
- Oakland Raiders: Al Davis stepped down as head coach to serve as AFL commissioner during the offseason. John Rauch was named as the Raiders new head coach.
In-season
- Denver Broncos: Mac Speedie resigned after starting the season 0-2. Line coach Ray Malavasi served as interim for the rest of the season.