1968 American Football League season

1968 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 6 – December 15, 1968
Playoffs
Date December 29, 1968
Eastern Champion New York Jets
Western Champion Oakland Raiders   (playoff)
Site Shea Stadium, New York City
Champion New York Jets
The Jets playing the Colts in Super Bowl III.

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 (11–3) defeated the Oakland Raiders (12–2) in the AFL championship game on December 29 at Shea Stadium in New York City. Two weeks later, the Jets defeated the National Football League's Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in one of the biggest sports upsets in history. Because the AFL lost the first two Super Bowl games, the planned merger between the NFL and the AFL was in jeopardy. The Jets win helped keep the merger alive.[1]

Division races

With the addition of the Cincinnati Bengals, the AFL's ten teams were split equally into two divisions. Each played 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.

As with the previous eight seasons, the best record in the Eastern Division played the best in the Western Division in the AFL championship game, with the site alternating between the divisions; the Eastern division hosted in even-numbered years. If there was tie within the division standings (as happened when Oakland and Kansas City both finished at 12–2), a tiebreaker playoff was held to determine the division winner. The Jets, with the third-best record in the league in 1968, had a week off and hosted the title game.

Week Eastern Record Western Record
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

Regular season

The Cincinnati Bengals joined the league as an expansion team.

Results

Home/Road Eastern Division Western Division
BOS BUF HOU MIA NY CIN DEN KC OAK SD
Eastern Boston Patriots 23–6 0–16 10–34 31–47* 33–14 14–35 17–27
Buffalo Bills 7–16 7–30 17–21 37–35 7–18 6–48 6–21
Houston Oilers 45–17 35–6 7–24 14–20 38–17 21–26 15–24
Miami Dolphins 38–7 14–14 10–24 7–31 21–38 3–48 21–47
New York Jets 48–14 25–21 26–7 35–17 27–14 13–21 23–20
Western Cincinnati Bengals 34–23 17–27 22–24 24–10 9–16 0–34 10–31
Denver Broncos 17–20 34–32 21–14 10–7 7–30 7–43 23–47
Kansas City Chiefs 31–17 24–10 19–20 13–3 34–2 24–10 27–20
Oakland Raiders 41–10 13–10 43–32 31–10 33–27 38–21 14–23
San Diego Chargers 30–14 34–28 15–37 29–13 55–24 3–40 27–34

(*) Played at Legion Field, Birmingham since Boston Red Sox refused to rent Fenway Park to Patriots.

Standings

AFL Eastern Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
New York Jets 1130.7867–1419280W4
Houston Oilers 770.5005–3303248W2
Miami Dolphins 581.3854–3–1276355L1
Boston Patriots 4100.2862–6229406L2
Buffalo Bills 1121.0771–6–1199367L8

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
AFL Western Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Oakland Raiders 1220.8576–2453233W8
Kansas City Chiefs 1220.8577–1371170W5
San Diego Chargers 950.6435–3382310L2
Denver Broncos 590.3571–7255404L3
Cincinnati Bengals 3110.2141–7215329L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

References

  1. ↑ http://www.superbowl3.net
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