Hail to the Chiefs

Postgame

In the thirty-five years since the Chiefs’ improbable Super Bowl I triumph over the Packers, the professional football landscape in America has changed so much that if they were to return to Earth today Vince Lombardi and Hank Stram would barely recognize the sport for whose world championship they battled on that January afternoon in the Los Angeles Coliseum. The 2-point conversion, for decades used only in the collegiate game and still in its experimental phase in the pros when Kansas City won the 1966 AFL championship, is now a fundamental part of football at all levels of the game; the bigger, more TV-savvy league which was born out of the 1970 AFL-NFL merger boasts franchises in every part of North America from Vancouver to Jacksonville; and while the Chiefs have made three additional Super Bowl appearances(most recently in what Sports Illustrated called ‘the Battle of I-80’ when they faced the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV), the Packers haven’t been back to the big dance since Lombardi’s retirement in 1968....

 

From the February 1^st, 1967 New York Times:

CHIEFS STUN PACKERS, 36-23, TO CAPTURE PRO FOOTBALL’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Sportswriters See Kansas City Win As A Boost For The AFL’s Prestige

From the book Dallas Confidential: The 1967 NFL Championship Game And The Last Gasp Of A Dynasty, copyright 2006 Ballantine Books:

Vince Lombardi came into his final game as Packers head coach hoping for a redemption from the stunning defeat they had endured at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs in the first Super Bowl. Unfortunately for him, such redemption would prove to be highly elusive; the Cowboys sensed that remnants of the self-doubt which had haunted Green Bay’s players after the Super Bowl I loss were lodged in the Packers’ collective psyche, and they exploited it(not to mention the biting cold) to keep Green Bay’s offense stuck in neutral until Dallas had built up a commanding lead in the NFL title game....

From the January 15^th, 1968 Oakland Tribune:

RAIDERS GIVE VALIANT EFFORT IN CLOSE 30-27 SUPER BOWL LOSS TO COWBOYS

JETS WALLOP COLTS 31-14 IN THIRD ANNUAL SUPER BOWL

Second Victory In Three Years For AFL In Pro Football’s World Title Game

From the January 16^th, 1969 issue of Sports Illustrated:

SPECIAL REPORT: Will The AFL Dominate The NFL After The Merger?

From the book Orange Crush: The Denver Broncos’ Improbable Path To Their First Super Bowl, copyright 1998 University of Colorado Press:

It was with some trepidation that the Cowboys approached their impending Super Bowl with Denver; their head coach, Tom Landry, was too well aware that NFC success had been the exception instead of the rule in previous Super Bowls. In fact, the AFC had prevailed in three of the first four such contests and could easily have made it four wins in a row had it not been for Dallas’ heroic defensive stand against the Oakland Raiders in the closing moments of Super Bowl II...

When the Philadelphia Eagles knocked off the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV, it seemed like the beginning of a resurgence for the NFC, but that proved to be a mirage. The AFC reasserted its primacy with a Cincinnati Bengals miracle comeback against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XVI...

From the January 31^st, 1983 Cincinnati Enquirer:

BENGALS SHOCK 49ERS, NFL WITH LATE DRIVE TO WIN SUPER BOWL 24-21

 

From the January 26^th, 1991 New York Post:

GIANTS HOPE EIGHT IS ENOUGH

Big Blue aims to snap AFC’s seven-year Super Bowl win streak tomorrow against Buffalo

From the January 27^th, 1991 New York Daily News:

GIANT HEARTBREAK

Late Norwood field goal clinches 22-20 Buffalo win over Big Blue in Super Bowl XXV

From the January 31^st, 1994 Dallas Morning News:

OH ‘BOY!

Dallas tops Buffalo 41-24 to snap NFC’s 10-year Super Bowl losing streak

From the January 13^th, 1996 Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal:

PACKED OFF TO OBLIVION

Late Green Bay defensive collapse allows Carolina to win NFC title game

34-30; Panthers to face New England in Super Bowl XXXI

From the January 31^st, 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

CHIEFLY A DOMINATING DAY FOR KC

Late Rams comeback drive falls one inch short as Chiefs hang on to win 24-17 in Super Bowl XXXIV

From the February 8^th, 2001 Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal:

PACKERS RELEASE FAVRE

Former Southern Miss. standout had outstanding regular season numbers but kept falling short in the playoffs

From the January 25^th, 2004 Boston Herald:

VEGAS FEELING PATRIOTIC

Oddsmakers have New England a 23-point favorite in Super Bowl XXXVIII

From an ESPN.com article commemorating the 40^th anniversary of Super Bowl I:

The first casualty of the Packers’ Super Bowl defeat was Vince Lombardi’s coaching mystique. The second was the long-standing belief in the NFL’s inherent superiority over the AFL. The third, as a consequence of the two leagues’ 1970 merger, would be the NFL itself....