1966 American Football League Championship Game
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.
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Date | January 1, 1967 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Stadium | War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York | ||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Kansas City | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 42,080 | ||||||||||||||||||
Hall of Famers | |||||||||||||||||||
Chiefs: Lamar Hunt (owner), Hank Stram (head coach), Bobby Beathard (personnel administrator), Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Len Dawson, Johnny Robinson, Emmitt Thomas Bills: Ralph Wilson (owner), Billy Shaw | |||||||||||||||||||
TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, and Pat Hernon | ||||||||||||||||||
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. 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, and advanced to Super Bowl I to play against the National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers.