1966 American Football League season

1966 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 2, 1966 – 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
American Football League seasons
 < 1965 1967 > 

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.

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 was 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

With the addition of Miami, the AFL had 9 teams, grouped into two divisions, 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

AFL Eastern Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Buffalo Bills 941.6926–2358255W1
Boston Patriots 842.6775–1–1315283L1
New York Jets 662.5004–3–1322312W1
Houston Oilers 3110.2141–7335396L8
Miami Dolphins 3110.2142–5213362W1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
AFL Western Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Kansas City Chiefs 1121.8465–1448276W3
Oakland Raiders 851.6154–2315288W1
San Diego Chargers 761.5382–4335284L1
Denver Broncos 4100.2861–5196381L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

References

    External links

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