On
Jan. 15, 1967, the NFL would host the first ever Super Bowl.
The
site was Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, Calif. and the Green Bay Packers, led by
quarterback Bart Starr, defeated Len Dawson and the Kansas City Chiefs by a score
of 35-10.
Green
Bay scored three touchdowns in the second half to break open a close game that
was only 14-10 at the halfway point. Starr was 16-for-23 and 250 yards en route
to being named the game's MVP.
The
historic day marked the first-ever contest between the NFL and AFL, which were
in competition with each other at the time.
The
game was created as part of a merger agreement between
the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football
League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would play
in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game
until the merger was to officially begin in 1970. After the merger, each league
was redesignated as a "conference",
and the game was then played between the conference champions. Currently, the National
Football Conference (NFC) leads the series with 25 wins to 21 wins for the American
Football Conference (AFC).
Three
years later, the leagues merged and the single-greatest game in American team
sports took off to become an advertising juggernaut, which is because the Super
Bowl every year is one of the most watched sporting events on television.
But
it is not just about television and advertising, the Super Bowl is about
showing your dominance over the league, and bringing home a Vince Lombardi
Trophy to your fans.
The day on which the Super Bowl is played, now considered by
some a de facto American national holiday, is
called "Super
Bowl Sunday". It is the second-largest day for U.S. food consumption,
after Thanksgiving
Day.
The Pittsburgh Steelers
have won six Super Bowls, the most of any team; the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers
have five victories each; and both the Green Bay Packers and
New York Giants have
four Super Bowls championships.
Thirteen other NFL franchises have won at least one Super
Bowl.
Ten teams have appeared in Super Bowl games without a win.
The Minnesota
Vikings were the first team to have lost a record four times without a win.
The Buffalo Bills
played in a record four Super Bowls in a row, and lost every one. Four teams
(the Cleveland Browns,
Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars,
and Houston Texans)
have never appeared in a Super Bowl.
The Browns and Lions both won NFL Championships prior to the
Super Bowl's creation, while the Jaguars (1995) and Texans (2002) are both
recent NFL expansion teams.
The Minnesota
Vikings won the last NFL Championship before the merger, but lost to the
AFL champion Kansas
City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.
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