THE AFL 1960–69: A RETROSPECTIVE

1966 AFL Championship Game: Chiefs 31, Bills 7

Kansas City’s staunch defense and Len Dawson’s flawless performance ended Buffalo’s two-year reign

Len Dawson (16) and Mike Garrett (21) each had big games as the Chiefs routed the Bills.

BUFFALO — During the first half of the 1990s, the Buffalo Bills made professional football history by appearing in an unprecedented four consecutive Super Bowls.

Following the 1966 season, the Bills had a chance to be part of another piece of Super Bowl history — even before the Super Bowl became the Super Bowl — by becoming the first AFL team to qualify for the world championship game.

As part of the agreement between the two professional football leagues to merge in time for the 1970 season, it was decided that the winners of each league championship game would meet two weeks later in an AFL-NFL World Championship Game to determine ultimate bragging rights.

The name of the game would later be changed to the Super Bowl and it would annually become the largest, most-watched single-day sporting event in the world.

The Bills, two-time defending AFL champions, seemed like the logical candidate to face Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers at the Los Angeles Coliseum. However, fate and better opponents prevented the Bills from…