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1965 American Football League Championship Game: Difference between revisions

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Coordinates: 32°43′14″N 117°09′02″W / 32.7205°N 117.1505°W / 32.7205; -117.1505
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|announcers=[[Curt Gowdy]], [[Paul Christman]],<br>and [[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]<ref>[http://the506.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1222283375 1965 NFL-AFL Commentator Crews]{{dead link|date=January 2015|bot=WebCiteBOT}}</ref>
|announcers=[[Curt Gowdy]], [[Paul Christman]],<br>and [[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]]<ref>[http://the506.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1222283375 1965 NFL-AFL Commentator Crews] {{wayback|url=http://the506.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1222283375 |date=20081211144644 }}</ref>
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Revision as of 16:46, 20 January 2016

Buffalo Bills San Diego Chargers
23 0
1234 Total
Buffalo Bills 01463 23
San Diego Chargers 0000 0
DateDecember 26, 1965
StadiumBalboa Stadium, San Diego, California
Attendance30,361
TV in the United States
NetworkNBC
AnnouncersCurt Gowdy, Paul Christman,
and Charlie Jones[1]

Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 526: Unable to find the specified location map definition: "Module:Location map/data/USA relief" does not exist. The 1965 American Football League Championship Game was the sixth AFL championship game, played on December 26 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California.[2]

It matched the Western Division champion San Diego Chargers (9–2–3) and the Eastern Division champion Buffalo Bills (10–3–1) to decide the American Football League (AFL) champion for the 1965 season.

The defending champion Bills entered the game as 6½ point underdogs;[2] the Chargers had won the regular season meeting on October 10 by a convincing 34–3 score.[3]

In favorable 60 °F (16 °C) conditions on the day after Christmas,[2] the Bills shut out the Chargers and repeated as champions, scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter, one on a punt return. They added three field goals in the second half to win 23–0.[2][4] Of the ten AFL title games, this was the only shutout.

This was the last AFL Championship to end the season; the first Super Bowl followed the 1966 season.

Scoring summary

Sunday, December 26, 1965
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. PST

  • First quarter
    • no scoring
  • Second quarter
  • Third quarter
    • BUF – Field goal Gogolak 11, 17–0 BUF
    • BUF – Field goal Gogolak 39, 20–0 BUF
  • Fourth quarter
    • BUF – Field goal Gogolak 32, 23–0 BUF

Players' shares

The winning Bills players were allocated $5,189 each, while the Chargers players received $3,447 each.[4]

Aftermath

This game marked the last time that a final pro football championship was decided in December, within the same calendar year as the regular season games. The following season would conclude with the first Super Bowl played in January 1967.

This is the last professional American football championship game to have been won by a team from Buffalo, New York, as well as the last of any major league team from the city. Indeed, the fortunes of both teams, and for that matter both cities, would go southward since then. The Bills would not appear in another championship game until Super Bowl XXV when the infamous Wide Right occurred, and would also proceed to lose the next three Super Bowls. The Chargers meanwhile would not appear in another championship until Super Bowl XXIX, which they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49-26. Both San Diego and Buffalo presently as of 2015 have the second and third longest championship droughts respectively for any city that has at least two major sports franchises.[5]

Marty Schottenheimer, a rookie linebacker for the Bills, went on to a long coaching career in the NFL, including leading the Chargers as head coach from 2002-2006. He, too, would not win another championship in his career until the 2011 UFL Championship Game.

See also

References

  1. ^ 1965 NFL-AFL Commentator Crews Template:Wayback
  2. ^ a b c d "Buffalo wins AFL crown". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 27, 1965. p. 2, part 2.
  3. ^ "Bills suffer setback". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. October 11, 1965. p. 20.
  4. ^ a b "Bills turn solid gold with $100 quarterback". Toledo Blade. Ohio. Associated Press. December 27, 1965. p. 31.
  5. ^ Champs or Chumps - Longest Championship Droughts

32°43′14″N 117°09′02″W / 32.7205°N 117.1505°W / 32.7205; -117.1505

Preceded by Buffalo Bills
American Football League Champions
1965 		Succeeded by
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