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| Date | January 1, 1967 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Kansas City [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| 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[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
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.[3][4]
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.[1][5] 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,[4][6][7] and advanced to Super Bowl I to play against the National Football League (NFL) champion Green Bay Packers.
- ^ a b Rathet, Mike (January 1, 1967). "Kansas City is favored to halt Bills today". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). Associated Press. p. D1.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
1966 NFL-AFL Commentator Crewswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Shrake, Edwin (January 9, 1967). "Firewater for some fired-up Chiefs". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
- ^ a b Rollow, Cooper (January 2, 1967). "Chiefs rout Buffalo, 31 to 7". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
- ^ "Potent Chiefs have slim edge on Bills". Milwaukee Journal. January 1, 1967. p. 3, sports.
- ^ "Chiefs ready for Packers". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. January 2, 1967. p. 14 – via Google News.
- ^ "Kansas City romps over Buffalo to end Bills' AFL reign, 31-7". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 2, 1967. p. 1, part 2.