The 1967 Super Bowl – A First in History

On the 15th of January 1967, the first ever Super Bowl game came into play, with the first NFL-AFL World Championship Game in pro American football. The Green Bay Packers (champions of the NFL) played the AFL champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the pressure was on!

In 1966, the NFL-AFL World Championship Game was established, wherein the champions of both leagues agreed to play against each other at the end of the season to determine which one had the best team. 

During the season lead-up to the championship game, the Chiefs team from the AFL had a season record of 11-2-1, defeating the Buffalo Bills 31-7 during the championship game of their league. The Packers, on the other hand, completed the 1966 NFL season with a record of 12-2, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 34-27 during the championship game of the NFL.

A lot of sportswriters and fans believed that NFL teams, which were established earlier on, were superior to any team in the AFL. Despite the Chiefs’ good record during the season, they were severely underestimated, with the majority of sports fans believing that Green Bay would easily beat Kansas City.

Come game time, the first half of the first Super Bowl was an intense competition. The Chiefs surpassed the Packers 181-164 in total yards, generating a score of 14-10 by halftime. During the 3rd quarter, Willie Wood, Green Bay’s safety, caught a pass and was able to return it 50 yards to the 5-yard line. The turnover led to the Packers scoring 21 points unanswered by the Chiefs during the game’s 2nd half.

True to most people’s predictions, the NFL champion Green Bay Packers defeated the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs with a score of 35-10 by the end of the game. 

Bart Starr, quarterback for Green Bay, was named MVP of the first Super Bowl after completing 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards, one interception, and two touchdowns.

This Super Bowl game is the only championship game to have been simulcast in the US by two rival networks. Both NBC and CBS were allowed to broadcast the game due to the former holding the rights to televise AFL games nationally while the latter held the national broadcast rights to NFL games.

The winning team’s players each took home $15,000, while the losing team received $7,500 each. Apart from this, each team also received league championship money two weeks prior to the game, with the Chiefs getting $5,308 each and the Packers receiving $8,600.