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 10 4 0 .714 8–0 353 269 W2 Houston Oilers 6 6 2 .500 5–3 278 279 W1 Boston Patriots 4 10 0 .286 3–5 266 316 L2 Buffalo Bills 4 10 0 .286 2–6 230 359 L2 Miami Dolphins 3 10 1 .231 2–6 233 332 L1 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 12 1 1 .923 7–1 377 242 W6 Kansas City Chiefs 11 3 0 .786 5–3 359 177 L1 San Diego Chargers 8 6 0 .571 2–6 288 276 W4 Denver Broncos 5 8 1 .385 3–5 297 344 W1 Cincinnati Bengals 4 9 1 .308 3–5 280 367 L5 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

	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

• Football Database