1968 American Football League Championship Game

1968 American Football League championship game
DateDecember 29, 1968
StadiumShea Stadium, Queens,
New York City, New York
Attendance62,627
TV in the United States
NetworkNBC
AnnouncersCurt Gowdy, Kyle Rote[1]
Shea  Stadium is located in the United States
Shea  Stadium
Shea 
Stadium
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Location in the United States

The 1968 AFL Championship Game was the ninth annual title game of the American Football League, played on December 29 at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York City, New York. In a rematch of the notorious Heidi Game played earlier in the season, the New York Jets (11–3) of the Eastern Division hosted the defending champion Oakland Raiders (12–2) of the Western Division. Although the Raiders had the better record (on account of having prevailed in the aforementioned contest), the Jets were slight favorites.[2] The Raiders had hosted a tiebreaker playoff game the week before against the Kansas City Chiefs (12–2) to determine the Western Division champion, while the Eastern champion Jets won their division outright and thus were idle.

Slightly favored,[3][4] the Jets defeated the Raiders 27–23 to win the championship and the chance to play the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1968 NFL-AFL Commentator Crews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Namath's Jets slight choice". Milwaukee Journal. December 29, 1968. p. 1, sports.
  3. ^ "Joe, Jets set for big date". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. December 29, 1968. p. 2, section 4.
  4. ^ "Namath's Jets slight choice". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. December 29, 1968. p. 1, sports.
  5. ^ "Namath paces New York's 27-23 title triumph". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. December 30, 1968. p. 10.
  6. ^ Markus, Robert (December 30, 1968). "Jets capture A.F.L. crown, 27 to 23". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
  7. ^ Shrake, Edwin (January 6, 1969). "Joe passes the big test in a breeze". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.