Superbowl III

To most fans of sport "The Superbowl" is the biggest annual game of any sport. The meeting of the best team in National Football Conference and the best team in the American Football Conference to crown a champion is, to many, more than just sport, it's a global event.

Whilst the NFL was the preeminent football league in the USA it had been rivaled in the late 1940's by the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) who unfortunately ran out of money in 1949. A decade later however the American Football League (AFL) was formed and in 1960 the AFL was seen as a real threat.

Unlike the AAFC the AFL had managed to not only show signs of stability but had also started to grow and were helped massively by the fact that they had signed a collective TV agreement with NBC that really brought the AFL in to line with the NFL in terms of finances. With their new found money the AFL were able to bringing in top players from the draft, notably Joe Namath (pictured above) who was signed by the New York Jets in 1965 in a move that really helped force through the merger of the AFL and NFL which started the following year.

In 1967 the AFL champions played the NFL champions in a game to decide the new "World Champions". This match saw the NFL Champions the Green Bay Packers defeat the AFL Champions Kansas City Chiefs by 35 points to 10. Whilst the first half was competitive (14-10) the Packers, lead by Bart Starr showed their class in dominating the second half 21-0. Whilst this match wasn't billed as a "Superbowl" it has been retro-actively called Superbowl I.

The following year the NFL again showed their dominance once again with the Green Bay Packers dominating the Oakland Raiders 33-14 with Bart Starr once again leading the line for the Packers. Despite the fact the Raiders had dominated the AFL (with a record of 13-1) the Packers had "only" posted a 9-4-1 record in the NFL, which further emphasised the gulf in class between the two leagues. Like the previous year match, this wasn't described as being a "Superbowl" until afterwards.

Going into the 1969 Superbowl II (the first match to have been officially described as a "Superbowl")  it was widely expected that the NFl's Baltimore Colts would demolish the AFL's New York Jets to further prove the NFL's domination of professional football. The Colt's had, after all, not only been the NFL champions for the season but had been outstanding conceding just 144 points on route to recording a 13-1 record behind Earl Morrall who had been exceptional for a year and forced Johnny Unitas to sit on the sidelines for much of the season. In fact the team had been described by some as "the greatest team in pro football history".

The Jets however had struggled, whilst they had compiled an 11-3 record their quarterback Joe Namath  had thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and had completed less than 50% of his passes through out the season and they had almost lost in the AFC Championship game to the Oakland Raiders. Had they been in the NFL many analysts had predicted that the Jets would have been lucky to have even recorded a 9-5 record and wouldn't even have made it to the play-offs had they not been in the weaker AFL.

Prior to the game the expectation was that the Colts were going to win with ease in fact they were given an 18 point handicap by many sportsbooks who writ them off before the kick off. Prior to the game however the Jets were confident and Joe Namath famously stated "We're gonna win the game. I guarantee it." When confronted by a Colts fan who, like many others, were confident that the Jets were lambs to the slaughter.

Not only were the Jets written off pre-game but, unknown to fans and the Colt's team the Jets key wide receiver Don Maynard was playing with an injury. The injury to Maynard played a pivotal part in the game however as the Jets used him as a decoy often taking 2 of the defensive players out as a result. In the second quarter the Jets opened the scoring via a Matt Snell 4-yard run for a touchdown. This touchdown was to be the only scoring play of the 1st half with both teams missing Field Goals.

The Jets increased their lead in third quarter as Jim Turner completed 2 Field Goals (a 32 yarder and a 30 yarder) to move the jets to 13-0 as shocked Colt's fans, and the media looked on in disbelief. Following Turner's second completed field goal the Colts brought on Johnny Unitas to try an turn around the fortune of the floundering Colt's however Unitas couldn't spark his offense into action. The Jet's further extended their lead after Turner completed his 3rd Field Goal of the day to move 16-0 in to the lead and whilst the Colts did manage to score late into the match (a 1 yard run by Jerry Hill) they were never going to over-haul the huge deficit they found themselves at. Despite not coming on until late Unitas' did effect the game completing 11 passes for 110 with many feeling that had he started, the Colts would have won.

This match was an historic moment as it was the first time an AFL team had been crowned world champions and the first time they had had a team defeat an NFL team. The AFL would again come out as winners the following year before the NFL-ALF merger was completed. Surprisingly the newly named American Football Conference (AFC,-which had come from the AFL) would go on to claim the first Superbowl after the merger.

Picture thanks to Billy Hathorn