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
DurationSeptember 14 – December 14, 1969
Playoffs
DateDecember 20, 1969
Eastern ChampionNew York Jets
Western ChampionKansas City Chiefs
SiteShea Stadium,
New York, New York
ChampionKansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs topped the Raiders in the 1969 AFL championship game.

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.

Playoffs

 
Divisional Playoff GamesAFL Championship Game
 
      
 
December 20, 1969 – Shea Stadium
 
 
Kansas City Chiefs13
 
January 4, 1970 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
 
New York Jets6
 
Kansas City Chiefs17
 
December 21, 1969 – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
 
Oakland Raiders7
 
Houston Oilers7
 
 
Oakland Raiders56
 

Super Bowl

The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 23–7, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, on January 11, 1970.

Stadium changes

Coaching changes

Offseason

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.
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