1969 American Football League season
The 1969 American Football League season was the tenth and final regular season of the American Football League (AFL). To honor the AFL's tenth season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each Kansas City Chiefs player wore a patch on his jersey with the logo during Super Bowl IV, the final AFL-NFL World Championship Game prior to the AFL–NFL merger.
| 1969 American Football League season | |
|---|---|
| Regular season | |
| Duration | September 14 – December 14, 1969 |
| Playoffs | |
| Date | December 20, 1969 |
| Eastern Champion | New York Jets |
| Western Champion | Kansas City Chiefs |
| Site | Shea Stadium, New York, New York |
| Champion | Kansas City Chiefs |
The Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders in the final AFL Championship Game, then soundly defeated the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
Division races
In its final two years of existence the AFL had ten teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team played a home-and-away game against the other four teams in its division, a home-and-away series against one of the five teams in opposite division, and one game each against the remaining four teams from the opposite division. Using that format, the defending World Champion New York Jets went 10–0 against the five teams they played twice (i.e., their four weak divisional rivals plus last-place second-year Cincinnati) while going 0–4 against the top four teams in the West.
For the 1969 season, a provision was made for a four team playoff to determine the AFL Champion, the league's representative in the Super Bowl, with the #1 team in the division to play against the #2 team in the opposite division. The NFL also had a four team playoff, introduced in 1967, matching the winners of the Capitol and Century divisions, and the Coastal and Central divisions.
The 1970 merger placed the 10 AFL teams (along with 3 teams from the pre-1970 NFL) into the 13-team AFC. (The other NFL teams went into the 13-team NFC.)
| Week | Eastern #1 | Eastern #2 | Western #1 | Western #2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N.Y. Jets | 1–0–0 | Hou, Bos, Buf, Mia | 0–1–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 1–0–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Hou, NY | 1–1–0 | Hou, NY | 1–1–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 2–0–0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | Houston | 2–1–0 | NY, Buf | 1–2–0 | Oak, Cin | 3–0–0 | Oak, Cin | 3–0–0 |
| 4 | Houston | 3–1–0 | N.Y. Jets | 2–2–0 | Oakland | 3–0–1 | Kansas City | 3–1–0 |
| 5 | NY, Hou | 3–2–0 | NY, Hou | 3–2–0 | Oakland | 4–0–1 | Kansas City | 4–1–0 |
| 6 | N.Y. Jets | 4–2–0 | Houston | 3–3–0 | Oakland | 5–0–1 | Kansas City | 5–1–0 |
| 7 | N.Y. Jets | 5–2–0 | Houston | 4–3–0 | Oakland | 6–0–1 | Kansas City | 6–1–0 |
| 8 | N.Y. Jets | 6–2–0 | Houston | 4–4–0 | Kansas City | 7–1–0 | Oakland | 6–1–1 |
| 9 | N.Y. Jets | 7–2–0 | Houston | 4–4–1 | Kansas City | 8–1–0 | Oakland | 7–1–1 |
| 10 | N.Y. Jets | 7–3–0 | Houston | 4–4–2 | Kansas City | 9–1–0 | Oakland | 8–1–1 |
| 11 | N.Y. Jets | 8–3–0 | Houston | 5–4–2 | Oakland | 9–1–1 | Kansas City | 9–2–0 |
| 12 | N.Y. Jets | 8–4–0 | Houston | 5–5–2 | Oakland | 10–1–1 | Kansas City | 10–2–0 |
| 13 | N.Y. Jets | 9–4–0 | Houston | 5–6–2 | Oakland | 11–1–1 | Kansas City | 11–2–0 |
| 14 | N.Y. Jets | 10–4–0 | Houston | 6–6–2 | Oakland | 12–1–1 | Kansas City | 11–3–0 |
Regular season
Results
| Home/Road | Eastern Division | Western Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS | BUF | HOU | MIA | NY | CIN | DEN | KC | OAK | SD | ||
| Eastern | Boston Patriots | 35–21 | 24–0 | 16–17 | 14–23 | 0–31 | 23–38 | 10–13 | |||
| Buffalo Bills | 23–16 | 3–17 | 28–3 | 19–33 | 16–13 | 41–28 | 7–29 | ||||
| Houston Oilers | 27–23 | 28–14 | 22–10 | 26–34 | 31–31 | 24–21 | 17–21 | ||||
| Miami Dolphins | 23–38 | 24–6 | 7–32 | 9–27 | 27–24 | 20–20 | 14–21 | ||||
| New York Jets | 23–17 | 16–6 | 26–17 | 34–31 | 40–7 | 16–34 | 14–27 | ||||
| Western | Cincinnati Bengals | 14–25 | 27–21 | 7–21 | 23–30 | 24–19 | 31–17 | 34–20 | |||
| Denver Broncos | 35–7 | 20–20 | 21–19 | 27–16 | 13–26 | 14–24 | 13–0 | ||||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 22–19 | 24–0 | 17–10 | 42–22 | 31–17 | 24–27 | 27–3 | ||||
| Oakland Raiders | 50–21 | 21–17 | 20–17 | 37–17 | 41–10 | 10–6 | 21–16 | ||||
| San Diego Chargers | 28–18 | 45–6 | 34–27 | 21–14 | 45–24 | 9–27 | 12–24 | ||||
Standings
For its tenth and final season before merging with the NFL, the AFL instituted a four team playoff tournament with the second place teams in each division also participating.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972. |
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playoffs
| Divisional Playoff Games | AFL Championship Game | |||||
| December 20, 1969 – Shea Stadium | ||||||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 13 | |||||
| January 4, 1970 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | ||||||
| New York Jets | 6 | |||||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 17 | |||||
| December 21, 1969 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | ||||||
| Oakland Raiders | 7 | |||||
| Houston Oilers | 7 | |||||
| Oakland Raiders | 56 | |||||
Super Bowl
The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 23–7, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, on January 11, 1970.
Stadium changes
- The Boston Patriots moved from Fenway Park to Alumni Stadium
Coaching changes
Offseason
- Boston Patriots: Mike Holovak was fired and replaced by Clive Rush.
- Buffalo Bills: John Rauch became the new Bills head coach after resigning from the Oakland Raiders. Joe Collier was fired after two games into the 1968 season, and defensive coordinator Harvey Johnson then served as interim head coach.
- Oakland Raiders: John Madden replaced John Rauch, who resigned to join the Bills.
In-season
- San Diego Chargers: Sid Gillman sat out five games due to health issues. Charlie Waller, the team's offensive backfield coach, served as interim.