1965 American Football League season

1965 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration	September 11 – 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
American Football League seasons  < 1964 1966 >

The 1965 American Football League 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 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

AFL Eastern Division W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK Buffalo Bills 10 3 1 .769 4–2 313 226 L1 New York Jets 5 8 1 .385 3–3 285 303 W1 Boston Patriots 4 8 2 .333 2–4 244 302 W3 Houston Oilers 4 10 0 .286 3–3 298 429 L7 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

AFL Western Division W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK San Diego Chargers 9 2 3 .818 4–1–1 340 227 W3 Oakland Raiders 8 5 1 .615 3–3 298 239 L1 Kansas City Chiefs 7 5 2 .583 4–1–1 322 285 W1 Denver Broncos 4 10 0 .286 0–6 303 392 L4 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

• AFL Championship Game

  Buffalo Bills 23, San Diego Chargers 0, December 26, 1965, Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California

External links

• Football Database