1965 AFL season | |
---|---|
Regular season | |
Duration | September 11 β December 19, 1965 |
Playoffs | |
Date | December 26, 1965 |
Eastern champion | Buffalo Bills |
Western champion | San Diego Chargers |
Site | Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California |
Champion | Buffalo Bills |
The 1965 AFL season was the sixth regular season of the American Football League.
The season also saw a change of television address as the games moved from ABCββto 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 NFLββto form the AFL-NFL World Championship game, known today as the Super Bowl.
Division Racesβ»
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 a tie in the standings at top of either division, "a one-game 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 5β8β1 Jets. In the Western Division, San Diego had three potential wins cancelled out when they were tied by, Kansas City (10β10), Boston (13β13) and Buffalo (20β20), but their 9β2β3 finish (.818) was well ahead of Oakland's 8β5β1 record (.615).
Week | Eastern | Western | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tie (Buf, Hou) | 1β0β0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 1β0β0 |
2 | Tie (Buf, Hou) | 2β0β0 | San Diego | 2β0β0 |
3 | Buffalo | 3β0β0 | San Diego | 2β0β1 |
4 | Buffalo | 4β0β0 | San Diego | 3β0β1 |
5 | Buffalo | 4β1β0 | San Diego | 4β0β1 |
6 | Buffalo | 5β1β0 | San Diego | 4β0β2 |
7 | Buffalo | 6β1β0 | San Diego | 5β0β2 |
8 | Buffalo | 6β2β0 | San Diego | 5β1β2 |
9 | Buffalo | 7β2β0 | San Diego | 6β1β2 |
10 | Buffalo | 8β2β0 | San Diego | 6β2β2 |
11 | Buffalo | 8β2β0 | San Diego | 6β2β2 |
12 | Buffalo | 8β2β1 | San Diego | 6β2β3 |
13 | Buffalo | 9β2β1 | San Diego | 7β2β3 |
14 | Buffalo | 10β2β1 | San Diego | 8β2β3 |
15 | Buffalo | 10β3β1 | San Diego | 9β2β3 |
Regular seasonβ»
Resultsβ»
Home/Road | Eastern Division | Western Division | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BOS | BUF | HOU | NY | DEN | KC | OAK | SD | ||
Eastern | Boston Patriots | 7β23 | 42β14 | 20β30 | 10β27 | 10β10 | 10β24 | 13β13 | |
Buffalo Bills | 24β7 | 17β19 | 33β21 | 31β13 | 34β25 | 17β12 | 3β34 | ||
Houston Oilers | 31β10 | 18β29 | 27β21 | 21β31 | 38β36 | 21β33 | 26β37 | ||
New York Jets | 23β27 | 14β12 | 41β14 | 45β10 | 10β14 | 24β24 | 9β34 | ||
Western | Denver Broncos | 20β28 | 15β30 | 28β17 | 16β13 | 23β31 | 20β28 | 21β35 | |
Kansas City Chiefs | 27β17 | 7β23 | 52β21 | 10β13 | 45β35 | 14β7 | 31β7 | ||
Oakland Raiders | 30β21 | 14β17 | 21β17 | 24β14 | 24β13 | 37β10 | 6β17 | ||
San Diego Chargers | 6β22 | 20β20 | 31β14 | 38β7 | 34β31 | 10β10 | 24β14 |
Standingsβ»
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings in the AFL. |
|
Playoffsβ»
AFL Championship Game | ||
December 26, 1965 β Balboa Stadium | ||
Buffalo Bills | 23 | |
San Diego Chargers | 0 | |
Stadium changesβ»
- The Houston Oilers moved from Jeppensen Stadium to Rice Stadium
Coaching changesβ»
- Denver Broncos: Mac Speedie began his first full season. He replaced Jack Faulkner after four games into the 1964 season.
- Houston Oilers: Sammy Baugh was fired. And replaced by Hugh Taylor.