Super Bowl I
The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League champion Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10, winning their tenth championship in team history and becoming the first NFL team to win double-digit championships.
Coming into the game, billed by some as the "supergame", considerable animosity existed between the AFL and NFL, thus the teams representing the two rival leagues felt additional pressure to win. The Chiefs posted an 11–2–1 record during the regular season, and defeated the Buffalo Bills 31–7 in the AFL Championship Game. The Packers finished the regular season at 12–2 and defeated the Dallas Cowboys 34–27 in the NFL Championship Game. Many sportswriters and fans believed any team in the older NFL was vastly superior to any club in the upstart AFL, and so expected the Packers would blow out the Chiefs.
The first half of Super Bowl I was competitive, as the Chiefs outgained the Packers in total yards, and kept pace with the Packers by posting a score at halftime. Early in the third quarter, Packers safety Willie Wood intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards to the 5-yard line. The turnover sparked the Packers to score 21 unanswered points in the second half. Packers quarterback Bart Starr, who completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception, was named MVP.
As NBC and CBS had held the rights to nationally televise AFL and NFL games, respectively, it was decided both networks were allowed to televise the game. The game remains the only Super Bowl to have been simulcast in the United States by two of the then-"Big Three" broadcast companies. Several recent Super Bowls have been simultaneously broadcast on network television as well as cable and streaming platforms.
Background
Origins
When the NFL began its 41st season in, it had a new and unwanted rival: the American Football League. The NFL had successfully fended off several other rival leagues in the past, and so the older league initially ignored the new upstart and its eight teams, figuring it would be made up of nothing but NFL rejects, and fans were unlikely to prefer it to the NFL. But unlike the NFL's prior rivals, the AFL survived and prospered, in part by signing "NFL rejects" who turned out to be highly talented players the older league had badly misjudged. Soon the NFL and AFL found themselves locked in a massive bidding war for the top free agents and prospects coming out of college. Originally, there was a tacit agreement between the two not to raid each other by signing players who were already under contract with a team from an opposing league. This policy broke down in early 1966 when the NFL's New York Giants signed Pete Gogolak, a placekicker who was under contract with the AFL's Buffalo Bills. The AFL owners considered this an "act of war" and immediately struck back, signing several contracted NFL players, including eight of their top quarterbacks.Eventually, the NFL had enough and started negotiations with the AFL in an attempt to resolve the issue. As a result of the negotiations, the leagues signed a merger agreement on June 9, 1966. Among the details, both leagues agreed to share a common draft to end the bidding war for the top college players, as well as merge into a single league after the season. In addition, an "AFL–NFL World Championship Game" was established, in which the AFL and NFL champions would play against each other in a game at the end of the season to determine which league had the best team.
Los Angeles wasn't awarded the game until December 1, less than seven weeks before the kickoff; likewise, the date of the game was not set until December 13. Since the AFL Championship Game originally was scheduled for Monday, December 26, and the NFL Championship Game for Sunday, January1, the "new" championship game was suggested to be played Sunday, January 8. An unprecedented TV doubleheader was held on January 1, with the AFL Championship Game telecast from Buffalo on NBC and the NFL Championship Game telecast from Dallas on CBS three hours later.
Coming into this "first" game, considerable animosity still existed between the two rival leagues, with both of them putting pressure on their respective champions to trounce the other and prove each league's dominance in professional football. Still, many sportswriters and fans believed the game was a mismatch, and any team from the long-established NFL was far superior to the best team from the upstart AFL.
The players' shares were $15,000 each for the winning team and $7,500 each for the losing team. This was in addition to the league championship money earned two weeks earlier: the Packers' shares were $8,600 each and the Chiefs' were $5,308 each.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs entered the game after an 11–2–1 regular season and a decisive 31–7 road win over the defending AFL champion Buffalo Bills in the AFL championship game on New Year's Day.The Chiefs' high-powered offense led the AFL in points scored and total rushing yards. Their trio of running backs, Mike Garrett, Bert Coan, and Curtis McClinton all ranked among the top-ten rushers in the AFL. Quarterback Len Dawson was the top-rated passer in the AFL, completing 159 of 284 of his passes for 2,527 yards and 26 touchdowns. Wide receiver Otis Taylor provided the team with a great deep threat by recording 58 receptions for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns. Receiver Chris Burford added 58 receptions for 758 yards and eight touchdowns, and tight end Fred Arbanas, who had 22 catches for 305 yards and four touchdowns, was one of six Chiefs offensive players who were named to the All-AFL team. The Chiefs' offensive line was led by tackle Jim Tyrer, who had been selected to the AFL Pro Bowl for the 5th time in his career.
The Chiefs also had a strong defense, with All-AFL players Jerry Mays and Buck Buchanan anchoring their line. Linebacker Bobby Bell, who was also named to the All-AFL team, was great at run stopping and pass coverage. The strongest part of their defense, though, was their secondary, led by All-AFL safeties Johnny Robinson and Bobby Hunt, who each recorded 10 interceptions, and Fred Williamson, who recorded four. Their head coach was none other than Hank Stram.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers were an NFL dynasty, turning around what had been a losing team just eight years earlier. The team had posted an NFL-worst 1–10–1 record in 1958 before head coach Vince Lombardi was hired in January 1959. "Their offense was like a conga dance", one sportswriter quipped. "1, 2, 3and kick."Lombardi was determined to build a winning team. During the preseason, he signed Fred "Fuzzy" Thurston, who had been cut from three other teams, but ended up becoming an All-Pro left guard for the Packers. Lombardi also made a big trade with the Cleveland Browns which brought three players to the team who would become cornerstones of the defense: linemen Henry Jordan, Willie Davis, and Bill Quinlan.
Lombardi's hard work paid off, and the Packers improved to a 7–5 regular-season record in 1959. They surprised the league during the following year by making it to the 1960 NFL Championship Game. Although the Packers lost, 17–13, to the Philadelphia Eagles, they had sent a clear message they were no longer losers. The Packers went on to win NFL Championships in 1961, 1962, 1965, and 1966.
Packers veteran quarterback Bart Starr was the top-rated quarterback in the NFL for 1966, and won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award, completing 156 of 251 passes for 2,257 yards, 14 touchdowns, and only three interceptions. His top targets were wide receivers Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale, who combined for 63 receptions for 1,336 yards. Fullback Jim Taylor was the team's top rusher with 705 yards, adding four touchdowns, and caught 41 passes for 331 yards and two touchdowns. The team's starting halfback, Paul Hornung, was injured early in the season and replaced by running back Elijah Pitts, who gained 857 all-purpose yards. The Packers' offensive line was also a big reason for the team's success, led by All-Pro guards Jerry Kramer, and Fuzzy Thurston, and tackle Forrest Gregg.
The Packers also had an excellent defense which displayed their talent in the NFL championship game, stopping the Dallas Cowboys on four consecutive plays starting from the Packers' 2-yard line on the final drive to win the game. Lionel Aldridge had replaced Quinlan, but Jordan and Davis still anchored the defensive line; linebacker Ray Nitschke excelled at run stopping and pass coverage, while the secondary was led by Herb Adderley and Willie Wood. Wood was another example of how Lombardi found talent nobody else could see. Wood had been a quarterback in college and was not drafted by an NFL team. When Wood joined the Packers in 1960, he was converted to a free safety and went on to make the All-Pro team nine times in his 12-year career.
Pregame news and notes
Many people considered it fitting the Chiefs and the Packers would be the teams to play in the first AFL–NFL World Championship Game. Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt had founded the AFL, while the Packers were widely considered one of the best teams in NFL history. Lombardi was under intense pressure from the entire NFL to make sure the Packers not only won the game but preferably won big to demonstrate the superiority of the NFL. CBS announcer Frank Gifford, who interviewed Lombardi before the game, said Lombardi was so nervous, "he held onto my arm and he was shaking like a leaf. It was incredible." The Chiefs saw this game as an opportunity to show they were good enough to play against any NFL team. One player who was looking forward to competing in this game was Len Dawson, who had spent three years as a backup in the NFL before joining the Chiefs. However, the Chiefs were also nervous. Linebacker E. J. Holub said, "the Chiefs were scared to death. Guys in the tunnel were throwing up."In the week before the game, Chiefs cornerback Fred "The Hammer" Williamson garnered considerable publicity by boasting he would use his "hammer" – forearm blows to the head – to destroy the Packers' receivers, stating, "Two hammers to Dowler, one to Dale should be enough."
The Packers practiced at UC Santa Barbara, and the Chiefs at Veterans Field in Long Beach.
The temperature was mild with clear skies.
The two teams played with their respective footballs from each league; the Chiefs' offense used the AFL ball, the slightly narrower and longer J5V by Spalding, and the Packers played with the NFL ball, "The Duke" by Wilson.
The AFL's two-point conversion rule was not in force; the NFL added the two-point conversion in and it was first used in the Super Bowl that season, in January 1995.
This was the only Super Bowl where the numeric yard markers were five yards apart, rather than ten as is customary today. In , marking yard lines ending in "5" was disallowed in the NFL in order to standardize field markings. It was also the last professional gridiron game played with double-support goalposts. The "slingshot" goalpost, with a single support, had made its debut a few weeks before Super Bowl I in the 1966 CFL playoffs. It became standard across all three professional leagues then operating in.
Tickets for this game were priced at twelve, ten, and six dollars, which was equivalent to $109, $90, and $55 in 2023 when adjusted for inflation.