The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner. San Diego led the Western Division for the entire season, with Oakland following one game behind from Week Eight onward. The Raiders had started at 2-0, then lost four straight, then began a winning streak. Starting from a 2-4-0 handicap was insurmountable, and although Oakland beat San Diego twice (34-33 on October 27, and 41-27 on December 8), its 10-4-0 record wasn't an 11-3-0.
The Eastern race changed in Week Seven, after the Jets lost to Oakland, 49-26, and the Patriots and Oilers tied at 4-3-0 for the lead. Houston pulled ahead the next week, and Boston beat them 45-3 the week after that; the next week, Boston lost 7-6 to San Diego, while Houston beat the Jets 31-27 to pull ahead again. Two weeks later (Week Twelve), San Diego beat Houston 27-0, while Boston led again after a 17-7 win over Buffalo. In Week Thirteen, Boston was at 7-5-1, and Buffalo and Houston right behind. In the final week, spoiler San Diego took out Houston, 20-14. Buffalo won 19-10 over the Jets, while Boston lost 35-3 to Kansas City, giving the Bills and Pats records of 7-6-1 and forcing a playoff.
