1968 American Football League season
| 1968 American Football League season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | |||
| Duration | September 6, 1968 – December 15, 1968 | ||
| Playoffs | |||
| Date | December 29, 1968 | ||
| Eastern Champion | New York Jets | ||
| Western Champion | Oakland Raiders | ||
| Site | Shea Stadium, New York City | ||
| Champion | New York Jets | ||
American Football League seasons
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The 1968 American Football League season was the ninth regular season of the American Football League, and its penultimate season prior to the AFL-NFL Merger.
The season ended when the New York Jets defeated the Oakland Raiders in the AFL Championship Game; the Jets then defeated the National Football League's Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in one of the biggest sports upsets in history.
Division races
With the addition of the Cincinnati Bengals, the AFL's ten teams were grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other four teams in its division, one game against each of the five teams in the opposite division, and a second game against one of the other division's teams.
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 (as happened when Oakland and Kansas City both finished at 12–2–0), a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.
| Week | Eastern | Western | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston | 1–0–0 | Tie (KC, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Tie (Bos, NYJ) | 1–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 3 | N.Y. Jets | 2–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 2–0–0 |
| 4 | Tie (Bos, NY) | 2–1–0 | Oakland | 3–0–0 |
| 5 | N.Y. Jets | 3–1–0 | Oakland | 4–0–0 |
| 6 | N.Y. Jets | 3–2–0 | Kansas City | 5–1–0 |
| 7 | N.Y. Jets | 4–2–0 | Kansas City | 6–1–0 |
| 8 | N.Y. Jets | 5–2–0 | Kansas City | 7–1–0 |
| 9 | N.Y. Jets | 6–2–0 | Kansas City | 7–2–0 |
| 10 | N.Y. Jets | 7–2–0 | Kansas City | 8–2–0 |
| 11 | N.Y. Jets | 7–3–0 | Kansas City | 9–2–0 |
| 12 | N.Y. Jets | 8–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 9–2–0 |
| 13 | N.Y. Jets | 9–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 10–2–0 |
| 14 | N.Y. Jets | 10–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 11–2–0 |
| 15 | N.Y. Jets | 11–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 12–2–0 |
Standings
The Cincinnati Bengals joined the league as an expansion team.
| Eastern Division | ||||||
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *New York Jets | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 419 | 280 |
| Houston Oilers | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 303 | 248 |
| Miami Dolphins | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 276 | 355 |
| Boston Patriots | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 229 | 406 |
| Buffalo Bills | 1 | 12 | 1 | .077 | 199 | 367 |
| Western Division | ||||||
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Oakland Raiders | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 453 | 233 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 371 | 170 |
| San Diego Chargers | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 382 | 310 |
| Denver Broncos | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 255 | 404 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 215 | 329 |
* — Team qualified for Championship Game.
Italics mean team qualified for the playoffs.
Playoffs
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- Western Division playoff
- Oakland Raiders 41, Kansas City Chiefs 6, December 22, 1968, Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
- AFL Championship Game
- New York Jets 27, Oakland Raiders 23, December 29, 1968, Shea Stadium, New York City
- Super Bowl III
- N.Y. Jets (AFL) 16, Baltimore Colts (NFL) 7, at Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
