Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl Lore: 1966
With it being Super Bowl Weekend, we’ll take this time to pay brief homage to the Kansas City Chiefs’ two appearances on the NFL’s biggest stage. The first one came in the game’s inaugural year of 1966. At the time it was just called the AFL-NFL Championship Game, and the AFL, of which Kansas City was the champion of, had so little credibility that there were 15,000 seats unsold in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
No one gave KC much of a chance at upsetting the Green Bay Packers, coached by Vince Lombardi. The Packer Dynasty of the 1960s was on its last legs, but the power sweep, for which the team was famous, was still as effective as ever, they still had a 1-2 punch at running back with Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor and still had a stout defense.
Kansas City closed the season on fire, winning their final three regular season games on the road, starting on the East Coast at the Jets and Dolphins and finishing it out west with a win in San Diego. With an 11-2-1 record, Hank Stram’s team then went to Buffalo and blasted the Bills in the AFL title game 31-7. The Chiefs’ offense was already potent, with Len Dawson pulling the trigger at quarterback, the talented Otis Taylor at wideout and a strong offensive line, marked by a dominant left side with Jim Tyrer and Ed Budde. But the addition of rookie running back Mike Garrett gave them a new dimension and the creative Stram produced the top offense in the nine-team AFL.
Defensively, Kansas City was tough in the front seven, but not as strong in the secondary. In this day and age, that was survivable, although in the week leading up to the game with Green Bay, safety Fred Williamson did a lot of talking, calling himself “The Hammer” and vowing that Packer receivers would know who he was by the end of the game.
Green Bay wide receiver Max McGee wasn’t one to care about what opponents’ were saying or thinking. It’s a part of Packer lore that the second-string receiver was out partying on Saturday night, and still hung over when he got word from the coaches that starter Boyd Dowler was out. McGee shook off his hangover and caught the first touchdown pass in Super Bowl history in the first quarter, when he pulled a poorly thrown pass from quarterback Bart Starr from behind him and rolled into the end zone.
Kansas City moved it well in the first half and kept pace with the mighty Pack. It was only 14-10 Green Bay at halftime and there was a buzz about what would be a stunning upset. In the end, Green Bay was just too physical for Kansas City—or, more accurately, the NFL was still at a stage where it was much more physical than the AFL in general. While passing yardage was comparable and each team had only one turnover, Green Bay won the rushing battle 130-72 and pulled away to a 35-10 win. Super Bowl history, soon to become the greatest feast on the American sports scene, had begun.
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