1968 American Football League season


1968 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 6, 1968 – December 15, 1968
Playoffs
Date December 29, 1968
Eastern Champion New York Jets
Western Champion Oakland Raiders
Site Shea Stadium, New York City
Champion New York Jets
American Football League seasons
 < 1967 1969 > 

The 1968 American Football League season was the ninth regular season of the American Football League, and its penultimate season prior to the AFL-NFL Merger.

The season ended when the New York Jets defeated the Oakland Raiders in the AFL Championship Game; the Jets then defeated the National Football League's Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in one of the biggest sports upsets in history.

Division races

With the addition of the Cincinnati Bengals, the AFL's ten teams were grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other four teams in its division, one game against each of the five teams in the opposite division, and a second game against one of the other division's teams.

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 (as happened when Oakland and Kansas City both finished at 12–2–0), a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.

Week EASTERN WESTERN
1 BOSTON 1–0–0 Tie (KC, SD) 1–0–0
2 Tie (Bos, NYJ) 1–0–0 Tie (Oak, SD) 1–0–0
3 N.Y. JETS 2–0–0 Tie (Oak, SD) 2–0–0
4 Tie (Bos, NY) 2–1–0 OAKLAND 3–0–0
5 N.Y. JETS 3–1–0 OAKLAND 4–0–0
6 N.Y. JETS 3–2–0 KANSAS CITY 5–1–0
7 N.Y. JETS 4–2–0 KANSAS CITY 6–1–0
8 N.Y. JETS 5–2–0 KANSAS CITY 7–1–0
9 N.Y. JETS 6–2–0 KANSAS CITY 7–2–0
10 N.Y. JETS 7–2–0 KANSAS CITY 8–2–0
11 N.Y. JETS 7–3–0 KANSAS CITY 9–2–0
12 N.Y. JETS 8–3–0 Tie (KC, Oak) 9–2–0
13 N.Y. JETS 9–3–0 Tie (KC, Oak) 10–2–0
14 N.Y. JETS 10–3–0 Tie (KC, Oak) 11–2–0
15 N.Y. JETS 11–3–0 Tie (KC, Oak) 12–2–0

Standings

The Cincinnati Bengals joined the league as an expansion team.

Eastern Division
TeamWLTPCTPFPA
*New York Jets 1130.786419280
Houston Oilers 770.500303248
Miami Dolphins 581.385276355
Boston Patriots 4100.286229406
Buffalo Bills 1121.077199367
Western Division
TeamWLTPCTPFPA
*Oakland Raiders 1220.857453233
Kansas City Chiefs 1220.857371170
San Diego Chargers 950.643382310
Denver Broncos 590.357255404
Cincinnati Bengals 3110.214215329

* — Team qualified for Championship Game.
Italics mean team qualified for the playoffs.

Playoffs

Main article: AFL playoffs, 1968

External links