1967 NFL season

Last updated

1967 NFL season
Regular season
DurationSeptember 17 –
December 17, 1967
Playoffs
East Champions Dallas Cowboys
West Champions Green Bay Packers
Championship Game
Champions Green Bay Packers
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Cowboys
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Eagles
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.... Redskins
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Saints
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Browns
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Giants
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Cardinals
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Steelers ....
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Rams
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Falcons
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49ers
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Colts
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Packers
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Lions
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Vikings
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Bears
NFL teams: Purple 8000ff pog.svg Coastal, White pog.svg Central, Blue 0080ff pog.svg Century, Orange pog.svg Capitol

The 1967 NFL season was the 48th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 16 teams with the addition of the New Orleans Saints.

Contents

The two eight-team conferences were split into two divisions each: the Eastern Conference divisions were Capitol (Dallas, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Washington) and Century (Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis), and the Western Conference divisions were Central (Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota) and Coastal (Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and San Francisco). Each division winner advanced to the playoffs, expanded to four teams in this year. The Saints and the New York Giants agreed to switch divisions in 1968 and return to the 1967 alignment in 1969. This was done to allow all Eastern Conference teams to visit New York at least once over the three-year period. Initially the Capitol Division was called the Federal Division when the NFL decided upon the divisions on November 30, 1966.

The NFL season concluded on December 31, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game (known as the "Ice Bowl"). Two weeks later, on January 14, 1968, the Packers handily defeated the AFL's Oakland Raiders 33–14 in Super Bowl II at Miami's Orange Bowl. This was Vince Lombardi's final game as the Packers' head coach. At the time, it was officially the "AFL-NFL World Championship Game," though the more succinct "Super Bowl" was commonly used. The 1965-67 Packers became the second team in NFL history to three-peat (the first being the same Packers team from 1929-31), and no one has done it since.

The Baltimore Colts had tied for the NFL's best record in 1967 at 11–1–2, but were excluded from the postseason because of new rules introduced for breaking ties within a division. [1] The L.A. Rams won the division title over Baltimore as a result of the Rams' 34–10 win over Baltimore in the last game of the regular season and a 24–24 tie in Baltimore in mid-October. L.A. had a 24-point edge over Baltimore in head-to-head meetings, giving them the tiebreaker and the Coastal division title. The other three division winners had only nine victories each. A total of nine NFL games ended in ties, the most since 1932 – including the two ties in the AFL (considered official NFL records since the merger) makes this the only season since 1932 with ten or more tied games.

Prior to 1975, the playoff sites rotated and were known prior to the start of the season. The hosts in 1967 were the Capitol and Central division winners for the conference championships (first round), and the Western Conference for the championship game. The 1968 playoff hosts were Century, Coastal, and Eastern, respectively, and 1969 featured the same hosts as 1967.

Draft

The 1967 NFL/AFL draft was held from March 14 to 15 at New York City's Gotham Hotel. With the first pick of the first common draft, the Baltimore Colts selected defensive tackle Bubba Smith from Michigan State. [2]

Expansion Draft

The 1967 NFL expansion draft was held on February 9, 1967, with the New Orleans Saints selecting 42 players from the other NFL teams. The one-year old Atlanta Falcons were exempted from losing a player in this expansion draft.

Major rule changes

Division races

The Eastern Conference was split into the Capitol and Century Divisions, and the Western Conference had the Coastal and Central Divisions. (Each of the new division names began with the letter C and contained seven letters.) Under the new system, each team played six division games (a home-and-away series against teams in its division); a game against each of the other four teams in its conference; and a nonconference game against all of the four members of one of the two four-team divisions in the other conference, for a total of 14 games. In the past, if two teams were tied for the division lead at season's end, a one-game playoff was conducted to break the tie. Starting in 1967, a tiebreaking system was implemented that started with net points in head-to-head competition, followed by the team that had less recently played in a title game. As such, only one team in a division would be the division winner, even if the win–loss record was the same.

WeekCapitolCenturyCoastalCentral
1 Dallas 1–0–0 Pittsburgh 1–0–0 San Francisco 1–0–0 Detroit 0–0–1
2Dallas2–0–0 St. Louis 1–1–0San Francisco2–0–0Detroit1–0–1
3 Philadelphia 2–1–0St. Louis2–1–0 Los Angeles 3–0–0 Green Bay 2–0–1
4Dallas3–1–0St. Louis3–1–0 Baltimore 4–0–0Green Bay3–0–1
5Dallas4–1–0 New York 3–2–0Baltimore4–0–1Green Bay3–1–1
6Dallas5–1–0 Cleveland 3–2–0Baltimore4–0–2Green Bay4–1–1
7Dallas5–2–0New York4–3–0Baltimore5–0–2Green Bay5–1–1
8Dallas6–2–0St. Louis5–3–0Baltimore6–0–2Green Bay5–2–1
9Dallas7–2–0St. Louis5–3–1Baltimore7–0–2Green Bay6–2–1
10Dallas7–3–0Cleveland6–4–0Baltimore8–0–2Green Bay7–2–1
11Dallas8–3–0Cleveland7–4–0Baltimore9–0–2Green Bay8–2–1
12Dallas8–4–0Cleveland8–4–0Baltimore10–0–2Green Bay9–2–1
13Dallas9–4–0Cleveland9–4–0Baltimore11–0–2Green Bay9–3–1
14 Dallas 9–5–0 Cleveland 9–5–0 Los Angeles 11–1–2 Green Bay 9–4–1

Final standings

Tiebreakers

Los Angeles won the Coastal Division based on better point differential in head-to-head games (net 24 points) vs. Baltimore. The Rams and Colts played to a 24–24 tie in Baltimore in October before the Rams won 34–10 on the season's final Sunday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The result would be the same under the modern tiebreaker, which relies first on head-to-head record (Los Angeles won the head-to-head series, 1–0–1).

Postseason

NFL playoffs

 
Conference championship games NFL Championship Game
 
      
 
December 24 – Cotton Bowl
 
 
Cleveland Browns (9–5)14
 
* December 31 – Lambeau Field
 
Dallas Cowboys    (9–5)52
 
Dallas Cowboys 17
 
December 23 – Milwaukee County Stadium
 
Green Bay Packers 21
 
Los Angeles Rams   (11–1–2) 7
 
 
Green Bay Packers (9–4–1)28
 


            

AFL–NFL World Championship Game

The Green Bay Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders, league champion of the 1967 American Football League season, 33–14, at the Orange Bowl in Miami on January 14, 1968.

Awards

Most Valuable Player Johnny Unitas, quarterback, Baltimore Colts
Coach of the Year George Allen, L.A. Rams; Don Shula, Baltimore Colts (tie)
Offensive Rookie of the Year Mel Farr, running back, Detroit
Defensive Rookie of the Year Lem Barney, cornerback, Detroit

Coaching changes

Stadium changes

See also

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References

  1. "NFL fixes plans to decide ties". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. December 1, 1966. p. 33.
  2. "Bubba Smith first draftee". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 15, 1967. p. 15.