1969 American Football League season

1969 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration September 7, 1969 – December 14, 1969
Playoffs
Date December 20, 1969
Eastern Champion New York Jets
Western Champion Oakland Raiders
Site Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum,
Oakland, California
Champion Kansas City Chiefs
American Football League seasons
 < 1968 1970 > 

The 1969 American Football League season was the tenth regular season of the American Football League (AFL), and the last one before the AFL-NFL Merger. 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 merger of the two leagues.

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.

AFL Eastern Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
New York Jets 1040.7148–0353269W2
Houston Oilers 662.5005–3278279W1
Boston Patriots 4100.2863–5266316L2
Buffalo Bills 4100.2862–6230359L2
Miami Dolphins 3101.2312–6233332L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

AFL Western Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Oakland Raiders 1211.9237–1377242W6
Kansas City Chiefs 1130.7865–3359177L1
San Diego Chargers 860.5712–6288276W4
Denver Broncos 581.3853–5297344W1
Cincinnati Bengals 491.3083–5280367L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

Main article: AFL playoffs, 1969
Divisional Playoff Games AFL Championship Game
December 20, 1969 – Shea Stadium
 Kansas City Chiefs 13  
 New York Jets 6  
 
January 4, 1970 – Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
     Kansas City Chiefs 17
   Oakland Raiders 7
December 21, 1969 – Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
 Houston Oilers 7
 Oakland Raiders 56  

External links

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