Top 10 regular season AFL/NFL power rankings, 1966

[74_75_78_79_]

The first year of the AFL/NFL World Championship Game! Twelve teams in both leagues combined that won more games than they lost! I, personally, am going to place Green Bay at #1 and Dallas at #2 but I do recall on a previous thread some of you in here feeling that KC was no lesser than Dallas was. In either event, you got three 9-5 teams in the NFL and an 8-5-1 Cardinals team that, I forgot, actually started 5-0...7-1-1...8-2-1 before (just like 1970) losing their remaining three games.

In the AFL, the Raiders also finished 8-5-1. Do you place the 8-4-2 Patriots, with their 11 AFL All-Stars, above 9-4-1 division-winner Buffalo due to they sweeping them? I'd think so. Pats lost big to Chiefs early in Fenway but tied KC in their next affair at Municipal late in the season. Bills at least split in their two games vs the eventual AFL-champ. Both Bills & Pats beat Raiders.

Okay, let's shuffle-up! This should be an interesting one. If you, like me, aren't going to place KC in the top-2, then how do you rank those three 9-5s from the NFL amongst the AFL's elite?




Question - I know the 'Playoff Bowl' was quite notorious in its existence, but what was it that awarded the Eagles the nod over Browns? Both teams split, but Browns had the better conference record (9-4 to 8-5). Did they simply just refuse to partake?

Factoid - looking at Dallas's 1966 campaign, I see that one of the wins in their sweep over Pittsburgh was a 52-21 final. Of course I immediately thought of the final score of last Thursday's game and thought maybe they were the only two such games with that final score. Wrong - last Thursday was the sixth such NFL game with that final score; ninth total in that three AFL games had that final score as well!

[74_75_78_79_]

1) Packers
2) Cowboys
3) Chiefs
4) Eagles
5) Browns
6) Patriots
7) Colts
8) Bills
9) Raiders
10) Rams

[ChrisBabcock]

Almost the the same as yours Matt. I bumped the Rams up a bit due to a little late season surge including a win over the Colts. The Foursome was giving a prelude to the 1 loss season the next year. Jeffrey Miller if you’re reading this, what’s your take on Bills vs. Patriots this year?

1) Packers
2) Cowboys
3) Chiefs
4) Eagles
5) Browns
6) Patriots
7) Bills
8) Rams
9) Colts
10) Raiders

[JeffreyMiller]

Almost the the same as yours Matt. I bumped the Rams up a bit due to a little late season surge including a win over the Colts. The Foursome was giving a prelude to the 1 loss season the next year. Jeffrey Miller if you’re reading this, what’s your take on Bills vs. Patriots this year?

1) Packers
2) Cowboys
3) Chiefs
4) Eagles
5) Browns
6) Patriots
7) Bills
8) Rams
9) Colts
10) Raiders

To quote Bill Parcells, "You are what your record says you are." Actually, the Pats might have been slightly better, but it didn't really matter in the long run. We've seen this sort of comparison a thousand times over, but the bottom line is it's all speculative.

Also--not sure about where you have the Eagles …

[74_75_78_79_]

Also--not sure about where you have the Eagles …

They, a 9-5 team, did have that minus-16 point-differential, but that was pretty much their two back-to-back blowout defeats early - first, in Week #4, at home to St. Louis (Cards completing their sweep over them), 41-10, and then the following week at Dallas, 56-7. They went 7-2 from there, avenging Dallas four weeks later, ending with a four-game win-streak beating Cleveland in that very stretch. Bob Brown and Floyd Peters were their Pro Bowlers. '66 Eagles belong in that current 'weirdest teams' thread; an 'island' team. Their last winning season prior was five years earlier, the year after their championship. They would finish a respectable 6-7-1 the following year, splitting with Dallas again, but (almost) bottomed-out (didn't get OJ) in '68. Their next winning season wouldn't be until '78. Just one .500 season, in '74, until then.