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The 1969 AFL playoffs were only the second time a U.S. major professional football league allowed teams other than the first place teams (including ties) to compete in post-season playoffs (the first was the seven-team All-America Football Conference's 1949 four-team playoff).
The following is a list of American Football League (AFL) seasons since the inception of the league in 1960 to 1969, the year before it merged with the National Football League (NFL). Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against
During the 1950s, the National Football League had grown to rival Major League Baseball as one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the United States. One franchise that did not share in this newfound success of the league was the Chicago Cardinals – owned by the Bidwill family – who had become overshadowed by the more popular Chicago Bears.
The 1970 NFL season was the 51st regular season of the National Football League, and the first after the consummation of the AFL–NFL merger.The merged league realigned into two conferences: all ten of the American Football League (AFL) teams joined the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers to form the American Football Conference (AFC); the other thirteen NFL clubs ...
The two teams had the best records in the AFL regular season and both had won divisional playoff games two weeks earlier to advance to the championship. Oakland had swept the two hard-fought regular season games between the two teams, [5] [6] [7] were favored by 4 to 5½ points, [1] [2] [3] and had taken seven of the last eight meetings. [8]
Home games in 1970 were played at Harvard Stadium, their fourth home venue and third in as many seasons. After taking the season opener at home from the Miami Dolphins, Boston lost nine in a row before beating the Buffalo Bills on the road. The season concluded with an embarrassing 45–7 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati.
The NFL playoffs following the 1969 NFL season determined the league's representative in Super Bowl IV.. This was the last NFL playoff tournament before the AFL–NFL merger and the last awarding of the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy to the NFL champion, which was introduced in 1934.
In addition to being the inaugural AFC title game, this was the first-ever game (regular season or playoffs) between the Colts and Raiders. Prior to this season, the teams had played in different leagues, and they did not meet in the 1970 regular season. The Colts had appeared in four NFL title games prior to the merger.