A look at the NFL in the 1960s
A look at the NFL’s fifth decade, the 1960s:
The 1960 NFL season was played with 13 clubs, with the expansion Dallas Cowboys joining the league that season and the Chicago Cardinals moving to St. Louis. The other teams were Cleveland, the New York Giants, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, the Baltimore Colts, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco.
The Minnesota Vikings were an expansion team the following season, with the Atlanta Falcons joining in 1966 and New Orleans in 1967.
The AFL launched in 1960 with the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, New York Titans, Denver Broncos, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers moved to San Diego the following year, the Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs and Titans changed their name to the Jets in 1963, Miami was added in 1966 and Cincinnati in 1968.
The Packers were the dominant team of the 1960s, winning NFL championships in 1961, ‘62 and ‘65 and then winning the NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls against the AFL champion Kansas City in the 1966 season and Oakland in the 1967 season with a roster that included 12 Hall of Famer players and coach Vince Lombardi.
The tough luck team of the decade might have been the Baltimore Colts. They lost 13-10 in overtime to Green Bay in the 1965 playoffs when they had to play with halfback Tom Matte as the QB with Johnny Unitas and backup Gary Cuozzo injured. They tied for the best record in the league in 1967 when they went 111-2 but missed the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker with the Rams. They were even better the following year despite losing Unitas to an injury in the preseason. Baltimore went 13-1 in the regular season, won the NFL title with a 34-0 victory over Cleveland but then lost the Super Bowl to the New York Jets in one of the biggest upsets ever.
The best AFL team might have been the Kansas City Chiefs in 1969. Overshadowed by the Jets, who won the Super Bowl the previous year, Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram’s squad might have been even more dominant. The Chiefs featured eight Hall of Fame players on that team led by defensive standouts Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell, Emmitt Thomas, Johnny Robinson and Curley Culp. Kansas City had the No. 1 defense in the AFL in terms of scoring, running and passing and allowed just 20 points in three playoff games. Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson led the offense and kicker Jan Stenerud also made it to Canton.
The other champions that decade in the NFL were Philadelphia (1960), Chicago (1963), Cleveland (1964) and Minnesota (1969).
The other AFL champions were Houston (1960-61), the Dallas Texans (1962), San Diego (1963), Buffalo (1964-65) and Kansas City (1969).
The biggest change in the ’60s was the launch of the AFL, which brought more high-powered offensive attacks to professional football in a style of play that still resonates today. The AFL aggressively challenged the NFL by signing several of the top college players and targeting NFL stars behind the leadership of Al Davis, who was the Raiders coach and then commissioner before the merger was announced. The AFL also cleared the way for more black players to enter the league by mining historically black colleges for talent that the NFL had long overlooked.
Pete Rozelle was elected commissioner of the NFL in 1960 and his leadership helped set the stage for the NFL becoming America’s dominant sport. One of Rozelle’s most lasting accomplishments came early in his tenure when he convinced big market teams such as the New York Giants and Chicago Bears to pool the league’s national television rights, assuring that smaller markets such as Green Bay would get an equal share of the revenue.
The shotgun formation got its name in 1960 when coach Red Hickey brought it to the San Francisco 49ers with quarterback John Brodie. The Jets used it briefly with Joe Namath to ease the pressure on his injured knees. The formation didn’t really reach popularity until a decade later when Landry used it in Dallas.