1965 American Football League season

The 1965 American Football League season was the sixth regular season of the American Football League.

1965 American Football League season
Regular season
DurationSeptember 11 – December 19, 1965
Playoffs
DateDecember 26, 1965
Eastern ChampionBuffalo Bills
Western ChampionSan Diego Chargers
SiteBalboa Stadium, San Diego, California
ChampionBuffalo Bills

The season also saw a change of television address as the games moved from ABC to NBC.

The season ended when the Buffalo Bills defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game. The next season, the AFL would join the NFL to form the AFL-NFL World Championship game, known today as the Super Bowl.

Division Races

The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.

There was little drama in either of the AFL's division races in 1965. The Bills led the Eastern Division from start to finish, ending five games ahead of the 5–8–1 Jets. In the Western Division, San Diego had three potential wins cancelled out when they were tied by Kansas City (10–10), Boston (13–13) and Buffalo (20–20), but their 9–2–3 finish (.818) was well ahead of Oakland's 8–5–1 record (.615).

Week Eastern Western
1 Tie (Buf, Hou) 1–0–0 Tie (Oak, SD) 1–0–0
2 Tie (Buf, Hou) 2–0–0 San Diego 2–0–0
3 Buffalo 3–0–0 San Diego 2–0–1
4 Buffalo 4–0–0 San Diego 3–0–1
5 Buffalo 4–1–0 San Diego 4–0–1
6 Buffalo 5–1–0 San Diego 4–0–2
7 Buffalo 6–1–0 San Diego 5–0–2
8 Buffalo 6–2–0 San Diego 5–1–2
9 Buffalo 7–2–0 San Diego 6–1–2
10 Buffalo 8–2–0 San Diego 6–2–2
11 Buffalo 8–2–0 San Diego 6–2–2
12 Buffalo 8–2–1 San Diego 6–2–3
13 Buffalo 9–2–1 San Diego 7–2–3
14 Buffalo 10–2–1 San Diego 8–2–3
15 Buffalo 10–3–1 San Diego 9–2–3

Regular season

Results

Home/Road Eastern Division Western Division
BOS BUF HOU NY DEN KC OAK SD
Eastern Boston Patriots 7–23 42–14 20–30 10–27 10–10 10–24 13–13
Buffalo Bills 24–7 17–19 33–21 31–13 34–25 17–12 3–34
Houston Oilers 31–10 18–29 27–21 21–31 38–36 21–33 26–37
New York Jets 23–27 14–12 41–14 45–10 10–14 24–24 9–34
Western Denver Broncos 20–28 15–30 28–17 16–13 23–31 20–28 21–35
Kansas City Chiefs 27–17 7–23 52–21 10–13 45–35 14–7 31–7
Oakland Raiders 30–21 14–17 21–17 24–14 24–13 37–10 6–17
San Diego Chargers 6–22 20–20 31–14 38–7 34–31 10–10 24–14

Standings

Playoffs

 
AFL Championship Game
 
  
 
December 26, 1965 – Balboa Stadium
 
 
Buffalo Bills23
 
 
San Diego Chargers0
 

Stadium changes

Coaching changes

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