1967 NFL season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1967 NFL season was the 48th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 16 teams with the addition of the New Orleans Saints. The league's teams were realigned into four divisions: the Capitol and Century Divisions in the Eastern Conference, and the Central and Coastal Divisions in the Western Conference. The Saints and the New York Giants agreed to switch divisions in 1968 and return to the 1967 alignment in 1969.

The NFL season concluded on December 31, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game (in a game that would be known as the "Ice Bowl"). Two weeks later, the Packers handily defeated the AFL's Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II in Miami's Orange Bowl, Vince Lombardi's final game as the Packers' head coach.

The Baltimore Colts had tied for the NFL's best record at 11-1-2, but were excluded from the four team playoff after losing the divisional tiebreaker to the L.A. Rams. The other three division winners had only nine victories.

Contents

[edit] Major rule changes

  • The "slingshot" goalpost, with one curved support from the ground and offset behind the crossbar, was made standard in the NFL. This replaced the previous year's offset goalpost, which had two non-curved supports from the ground. Before the introduction of the offset goalpost, the supports were directly on the goal line.
  • A six-foot-wide border around the field was also made standard in the league. Its outer edge designates the closest that non-players can be to the field, and thus enables the game officials to have a running lane to work in.

[edit] Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Qualified for playoffs
Eastern Conference
Capitol Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
Dallas Cowboys 9 5 0 .643 342 268
Philadelphia Eagles 6 7 1 .462 351 409
Washington Redskins 5 6 3 .455 347 353
New Orleans Saints 3 11 0 .214 233 379
Century Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
Cleveland Browns 9 5 0 .643 334 297
New York Giants 7 7 0 .500 369 379
St. Louis Cardinals 6 7 1 .462 333 356
Pittsburgh Steelers 4 9 1 .308 281 320
Western Conference
Coastal Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
Los Angeles Rams 11 1 2 .917 398 196
Baltimore Colts 11 1 2 .917 394 198
San Francisco 49ers 7 7 0 .500 273 337
Atlanta Falcons 1 12 1 .077 175 422
Central Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
Green Bay Packers 9 4 1 .692 332 209
Chicago Bears 7 6 1 .538 239 218
Detroit Lions 5 7 2 .417 260 259
Minnesota Vikings 3 8 3 .273 233 294


[edit] Tiebreakers

Los Angeles won the Coastal Division based on better point differential in head-to-head games (net 24 points) vs. Baltimore. The Rams and Colts played to a 24-24 tie in Baltimore in October before the Rams won 34-10 on the season's final Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. NOTE: The result would be the same under the modern tiebreaker, which relies first on head-to-head record (Los Angeles won the head-to-head series, 1-0-1).

[edit] Playoffs

Main article: NFL playoffs, 1967
  Conference Championship Games NFL Championship Game
             
December 24, 1967 - Cotton Bowl
 Dallas Cowboys 52  
 Cleveland Browns 10  
 
December 31, 1967 - Lambeau Field
     Dallas Cowboys 17
   Green Bay Packers 21
December 23, 1967 - Milwaukee County Stadium
 Green Bay Packers 28
 Los Angeles Rams 7  

[edit] See also

[edit] References

In other languages