The season ended when the Buffalo Bills defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game. Two years later, the AFL would join the NFL to form the AFL-NFL World Championship game, known today as the Super Bowl.
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.
The Buffalo Bills won their first nine games, before Boston beat them at home on November 15, 36-28. Buffalo came back from a 24-14 deficit at San Diego on Thanksgiving Day to eke out a 27-24 win. On December 6 at Oakland, the Raiders beat the Bills on the final play of the game, 16-13, and didn't bother to try for an extra point 1. Boston won at Kansas City, 31-24, to take Buffalo's lead away. In Week Fourteen, Boston was idle, and Buffalo took a 1/2 game lead with a 30-19 win at Denver. As it turned out, the Eastern Division title would come down to the final game of the season, with Buffalo (11-2-0) traveling to Boston (10-2-1) on December 20, with the winner to take all. Jack Kemp led the Bills to three touchdowns for a 24-14 win to capture the title.
The Western Division race was less dramatic. In Week Six, the Chargers took a lead over the Chiefs during a six game winning streak, and held that lead for the rest of the season.
