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1969 American Football League season
Regular season September 14, 1969 - December 14, 1969
Champions
All-Star game

The 1969 American Football League season was the tenth regular season of the American Football League, and the last one before the AFL-NFL Merger. To honor the AFL's 10th 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 season ended when the Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders in the final AFL Championship Game, then went on to defeat the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

Division Races[]

In its final year of existence, the AFL had ten teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play 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. Interestingly, 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 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, matching the winners of the Capitol and Century divisions, and the Coastal and Central divisions.

The 1970 merger would place the 10 AFL teams (along with 3 teams from the pre-1970 NFL) into the AFC. (The other NFL teams would go into the 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

Standings [1][]

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.

Eastern Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
*New York Jets 10 4 0 .714 353 269
Houston Oilers 6 6 2 .500 278 279
Boston Patriots 4 10 0 .286 266 316
Buffalo Bills 4 10 0 .286 230 359
Miami Dolphins 3 10 1 .231 233 332
Western Division
Team W L T PCT PF PA
*Oakland Raiders 12 1 1 .923 377 242
Kansas City Chiefs 11 3 0 .786 359 177
San Diego Chargers 8 6 0 .571 288 276
Denver Broncos 5 8 1 .385 297 344
Cincinnati Bengals 4 9 1 .308 280 367


* — Team won division.
Italics mean team qualified for the playoffs.

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  

1969 Championship[]

1 2 3 4 OT
Chiefs 0 7 7 3 17
Raiders 7 0 0 0 7




Kansas City Chiefs 17, Oakland Raiders 7

January 4, 1970 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California

Scoring

  • OAK - Smith 3 run (Blanda kick)
  • KC - Hayes 1 run (Stenerud kick)
  • KC - Holmes 5 run (Stenerud kick)
  • KC - Field goal Stenerud 22

External links[]

1969 AFL seasonv · d · e
Eastern Division Western Division
Boston Cincinnati
Buffalo Denver
Houston Kansas City
Miami Oakland
New York Jets San Diego
1969 AFL DraftAFL PlayoffsAll-Star gameSuper Bowl IV
Related: 1969 NFL Season
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