1966 American Football League Championship Game

1966 American Football League championship game
DateJanuary 1, 1967
StadiumWar Memorial Stadium,
Buffalo, New York
FavoriteKansas City [1]
Attendance42,080
TV in the United States
NetworkNBC
AnnouncersCurt Gowdy, Paul Christman,
and Pat Hernon[2]
Buffalo is located in the United States
Buffalo
Buffalo
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Location in the United States
Buffalo is located in New York
Buffalo
Buffalo
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Location in New York

The 1966 AFL Championship Game was the seventh American Football League's championship game, played at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York, on January 1, 1967.[3][4]

It matched the Western Division champion Kansas City Chiefs (11–2–1) and the Eastern Division champion Buffalo Bills (9–4–1) to decide the American Football League (AFL) champion for the 1966 season.

The host Bills entered as two-time defending champions, but the visiting Chiefs were three-point favorites, mainly because of their explosive and innovative offense led by head coach Hank Stram.[1][5] The Bills were a more conventional team with a solid defensive line and a running mindset on offense. The two teams had split their season series, played early in the schedule without weather as a factor, with the road team winning each.

The Chiefs defeated the Bills by a score of 31–7,[4][6][7] and advanced to Super Bowl I to play against the National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers.

  1. ^ a b Rathet, Mike (January 1, 1967). "Kansas City is favored to halt Bills today". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). Associated Press. p. D1.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1966 NFL-AFL Commentator Crews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Shrake, Edwin (January 9, 1967). "Firewater for some fired-up Chiefs". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
  4. ^ a b Rollow, Cooper (January 2, 1967). "Chiefs rout Buffalo, 31 to 7". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
  5. ^ "Potent Chiefs have slim edge on Bills". Milwaukee Journal. January 1, 1967. p. 3, sports.
  6. ^ "Chiefs ready for Packers". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. January 2, 1967. p. 14 – via Google News.
  7. ^ "Kansas City romps over Buffalo to end Bills' AFL reign, 31-7". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 2, 1967. p. 1, part 2.