1963 Kansas City Chiefs season | |
---|---|
Owner | Lamar Hunt |
General manager | Jack Steadman |
Head coach | Hank Stram |
Home field | Municipal Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 5–7–2 |
Division place | 3rd AFL Western |
Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
AFL All-Stars | TE Fred Arbanas G Ed Budde OT Jim Tyrer DE Mel Branch LB Walt Corey DB Dave Grayson DB Duane Wood S Johnny Robinson |
The 1963 Kansas City Chiefs season was the 4th and inaugural season for the Kansas City Chiefs as a professional AFL franchise; Despite winning the AFL championship game the previous year, the Chiefs were 5–7–2 in 1963, third in the four-team Western division.[1] The Chiefs were winless for two months in the middle of the season and were eliminated from the postseason in mid-November after ten games.[2] They finished the season with three consecutive wins at home, with diminished attendance. Their 27–27 tie with the Buffalo Bills in September was the first tie in franchise history.
For the previous three seasons, the team was known as the Dallas Texans and played at the Cotton Bowl. Owner and founder Lamar Hunt moved the team following the 1962 AFL Championship. Despite enormous success in Dallas, the city could not sustain two professional football franchises[3] (the other being the NFL's Dallas Cowboys). The team was renamed the Kansas City Chiefs and moved into Municipal Stadium alongside the Kansas City Athletics baseball team. The Chiefs 59–7 victory over the Denver Broncos in week 1 set two franchise records that still stand as of the end of the 2021 season: points scored in a game (59) and largest margin of victory (52).