1967 NFL season


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.
The two 8-team conferences were split into two divisions each: the Eastern Conference divisions were Capitol and Century, and the Western Conference divisions were Central and Coastal. 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 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.
The NFL season concluded on December 31, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game. Two weeks later, on January 14, 1968, the Packers handily defeated the AFL's Oakland Raiders 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 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. The L.A. Rams won the division title over Baltimore as a result of the Rams' 34–10 win over Baltimore on 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 makes this the only season since 1932 with ten or more tied games.
Prior to, 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, and the Western Conference for the championship game. The 1968 playoff hosts were Century, Coastal, and Eastern, respectively, and 1969 was like 1967.

Draft

The 1967 NFL Draft was held from March 14 to 15, 1967 at New York City's Gotham Hotel. With the first pick, the Baltimore Colts selected defensive tackle Bubba Smith from Michigan State University.

Major rule changes

The Eastern Conference was split into the Capitol and Century Divisions, and the Western Conference had the Coastal and Central Divisions. Under the new system, each team played six division games ; 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 won-loss record was the same.
WeekCapitolCenturyCoastalCentral
1Dallas1–0–0Pittsburgh1–0–0San Francisco1–0–0Detroit0–0–1
2Dallas2–0–0St. Louis1–1–0San Francisco2–0–0Detroit1–0–1
3Philadelphia2–1–0St. Louis2–1–0Los Angeles3–0–0Green Bay2–0–1
4Dallas3–1–0St. Louis3–1–0Baltimore4–0–0Green Bay3–0–1
5Dallas4–1–0New York3–2–0Baltimore4–0–1Green Bay3–1–1
6Dallas5–1–0Cleveland3–2–0Baltimore4–0–2Green 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
14Dallas9–5–0Cleveland9–5–0Los Angeles11–1–2Green Bay9–4–1

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against
Note: Prior to 1972, the NFL did not include tie games when calculating a team's winning percentage in the official standings

Tiebreakers

Los Angeles won the Coastal Division based on better point differential in head-to-head games 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. NOTE: The result would be the same under the modern tiebreaker, which relies first on head-to-head record.

Postseason

NFL playoffs

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

Awards

Coaching changes