The American Football League Is Created

On Aug. 14, 1959, at the call of Dallas businessman Lamar Hunt, a new professional football league to be called the American Football League (AFL) was organized to begin play in 1960. 

 Charter memberships were issued to Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and New York. Buffalo and Boston were admitted later that year. Early in 1960, Minneapolis defected to the National Football League (NFL) and Oakland was picked as a replacement city. 

The whole idea seemed so far-fetched, even after AFL teams started playing, that the eight team owners became known as the "Foolish Club."

At 9 a.m. on August 14, 1959, a group of visionary men that included Hall of Famer Lamar Hunt and Tennessee Titans Bud Adams met in the South Imperial Suite of The Conrad Hilton in Chicago, Illinois to form the American Football League.

Almost every element that makes pro football the world's most popular sport that it is today can be traced to the American Football League and the huge changes its presence eventually brought to the sport. 

By the time the fierce AFL-NFL war of the 1960s was over, the expanded National Football League of the 1970s stretched from coast-to-coast and from border to border. Fans poured into NFL stadiums in record numbers. Rapidly increasing television coverage introduced pro football to hundreds of millions of new fans on every continent.

The Super Bowl was destined to become the most watched sports spectacle in the history of the world. The AFL was viewed by the masses as a "David" matched against an unbeatable "Goliath" for almost half of its 10-year history. 

But when the "rags-to-riches" story was concluded, the AFL had achieved what no other NFL challenger had ever accomplished - equality in a new and exciting pro football world.  

The Green Bay Packers of the original NFL won the first two Super Bowls convincingly, causing many people to question if the AFL teams could compete. The very next year, the New York Jets of the AFL upset the Baltimore Colts of the NFL for the AFL's first Super Bowl Title. The Chiefs also of the AFL won the 4th Super Bowl, evening the record at 2-2.

Since the construction of the combined league, the original AFL teams have won 20 Super Bowls while original NFL teams have taken 25. Three Super Bowls have been won by teams created after the merger (the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens, twice.)

The Winner of each Super Bowl receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy, named after Vince Lombardi, the great coach for the Green Bay Packers who led his team to victory in each of the first two Super Bowls. Following his death, the trophy was named prior to Super Bowl V in his honor.

49ers Beat Chargers In Super Bowl

On Jan. 29, 1995, the San Francisco 49ers became the first NFL franchise to win five Super Bowls with a 49-26 victory over the San Diego Chargers in an all-California affair in Miami.

Quarterback Steve Young was named the game's MVP after throwing for 325 yards with a 24-for-36 efficiency.

Young was responsible for all six of his team's touchdowns as he threw six TD passes and no interceptions.

The victory for Young, was his only Super Bowl victory as a starter, he had another victory on the bench behind Joe Montana in 1989.

This was also the last time the 49ers were in the Super Bowl.

The 49ers five Super Bowl victories ties them for second all-time with the Dallas Cowboys and behind only the Pittsburgh Steelers who have six victories.

Last years Super Bowl was also played in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Super Dome, home of the New Orleans Saints, as the 49ers were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens, in what many labeled the "Harbaugh-bowl" or "Harbaughcalypse."

In 1990 the 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the then called Louisiana Super Dome to win Super Bowl XXIV (24), the last under Joe Montana.

Since Super Bowl XXIV (24) the Super Dome has played host to two more Super Bowls, 1997 in Super Bowl XXXI (31) with the Green Bay Packers against the New England Patriots and in 2002 in Super Bowl XXXVI (36) with the New England Patriots against the St. Louis Rams.

NFL Pro Bowl + Podcast

Scratch Hit Sports creator Stephen Langsam recaps the NFL Championship Round Playoffs with former co-host of the Sporting Hangover, Ryan Hilton.

We talk about the "New" style Pro Bowl, and draft our own Pro Bowl teams. Just a quick five on five draft, sorry offensive lineman, this one is just about skill positions!

We also dive into a few thoughts about the Super Bowl.


NFL Pro Bowl Podcast

Super Bowl History

January 26th has been a day where many Super Bowls were played. Here are a few that had some very interesting story lines.

On Jan. 26, 1986 Super Bowl XX (20) was played The Chicago Bears defeated the New England Patriots by a score of 46-10 in the Louisiana Superdome.

At the time, it was the most lopsided Super Bowl in history as linebacker Richard Dent was named the game's MVP.

New England jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but then Chicago's defense clamped down and the offense picked it up a notch. The Bears rattled off the next 44 points to secure their victory.

The Superdome in New Orleans is playing the host for this years Super Bowl with the 49ers and Ravens.

On Jan. 26, 1992, Super Bowl XXVI (26) was played at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn.,

Mark Rypien of the Washington Redskins was the game's MVP as the Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills by a score of 37-24. Rypien threw for 292 yards on 18-for-33 passing.

Washington had a 24-0 lead before Buffalo even scored its first points in the third quarter.

On Jan. 26, 1997, the Green Bay Packers won their first Super Bowl in the modern NFL over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI (31).

Desmond Howard was the game's MVP as his 99-yard kickoff return in the third quarter sealed the game for the Packers.

The final score was 35-21 as quarterback Brett Favre beat the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe.

On Jan. 26, 2003, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Oakland Raiders, in Super Bowl XXXVII (37).

The final score was 48-21 as the Buccaneers scored three touchdowns directly off interceptions.

Dwight Smith had two of those interceptions and Derrick Brooks had the other as Tampa Bay won their only Super Bowl title in their only appearance in the Super Bowl to this point.

Chargers Land Unitas

On Jan. 22, 1973,  the Baltimore Colts dealt legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas to the San Diego Chargers.

Despite his record numbers, the Colts felt that Unitas was too advanced in years to help them anymore. He was traded for the draft rights to quarterback Bert Jones.

Unitas started just four games for the Chargers before he was benched in favor of Dan Fouts. Fouts would go on to have a legendary career for the Chargers.

Nicknamed "The Golden Arm", Unitas, was a Lithuanian American professional American football player in the 1950s through the 1970s, spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Colts.

He was a record-setting quarterback, and the National Football League's most valuable player in 1959, 1964 and 1967. For 52 years he held the record of throwing a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games (between 1956–1960), until New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees broke his long standing record on Oct. 7, 2012.

Unitas was drafted in the ninth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL but was released before the season began as the odd man out among four quarterbacks trying to fill three spots. 

Steelers Head Coach Walt Kiesling had made up his mind about Unitas; he somehow thought him not smart enough to quarterback an NFL team.

The opposite would be true, as Unitas would become one of the greatest on-field leaders of all time, introducing the 2-minute offense to the NFL.

Kiesling never even let Unitas take a snap in practice with the Steelers. Among those edging out Unitas was Ted Marchibroda, future NFL quarterback and longtime NFL head coach. Out of pro football, Unitas--by this time married--worked in construction in Pittsburgh to support his family.

On the weekends, he played quarterback, safety and punter on a local semipro team called the Bloomfield Rams for $6 a game

Unitas was the prototype of the modern era marquee quarterback with a strong passing game, media fanfare and widespread popularity. He has been consistently listed as one of the greatest NFL players of all time.

Unitas was a star studded pro in the NFL earning several honors including three Bert Bell Awards, a 10-time Pro Bowler, being a three-time Pro Bowl MVP, two-time NEA NFL MVP, three-time UPI NFL MVP, three time AP NFL MVP, six-time First Team All-Pro selection, one Second Team All-Pro selection, one Second Team All-Conference award as well a two time NFL World Champion and Super Bowl Champion in Super Bowl V. He also won the 1970 NFL Man of the Year Award.

Unitas was honored to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994, as well honored as part of the All-Decades team from the 1960s. Unitas’ no. 19 jersey was also retired by the Baltimore Colts.

NFL Debuts Super Bowl

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.

NFL Pro Bowl Debuts

On Jan. 15, 1939, the NFL hosts the first ever Pro Bowl.

The New York Giants played the Pro All-Stars at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, Calif. The Giants won the game by a score of 13-10 over a team that had several future Hall of Fame inductees.

The NFL's version of the all-star game would change formats over several years. Sometimes teams would play college stars. Other times the game would be held in the summer.

For the first time in 1939, the Pro Bowl was held after the season was over.

The NFL All-Star Game was played again in Los Angeles in 1940 and then in New York and Philadelphia in 1941 and 1942 respectively. Although originally planned as an annual contest, the all-star game was discontinued after 1942 because of travel restrictions put in place during World War I.

During the first five all-star games, an all-star team would face that year's league champion. The league champion won the first four games before the all-stars were victorious in the final game of this early series.

The concept of an all-star game would not be revived until June 1950, when the newly christened "Pro Bowl" was approved.

The Los Angeles Publishers Association sponsored the game. It was decided that the game would feature all-star teams from each of the league's two divisions rather than the league champion versus all-star format, which had been used previously.

This was done to avoid confusion with the Chicago College All-Star Game, an annual game that featured the league champion against a collegiate all-star team. The coach of each of the division champions would lead the teams.

The first 21 games of the series (1951–1972) were played in Los Angeles, California. The site of the game was changed annually for each of the next seven years before the game was moved to Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii for thirty consecutive seasons from 1980 through 2009.

The 2010 Pro Bowl was played at Sun Life Stadium, the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins and host site of Super Bowl XLIV, on January 31, the first time ever that the Pro Bowl was held before the championship game, with the new rule that the conference teams do not include players from the teams that will be playing in the Super Bowl. T

The 2011 and 2012 Pro Bowls were played again in Hawaii, but again held during the week before the Super Bowl.

Since the merger with the rival American Football League (AFL) in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference (AFC) against those in the National Football Conference (NFC).

Unlike most other sports leagues, which hold their all-star games during (roughly) the halfway point of their respective regular seasons, the Pro Bowl is played at the end of the NFL season.

Currently, players are voted into the Pro Bowl by the coaches, the players themselves, and the fans. Each group's ballots count for one third of the votes. The fans vote online at the NFL's official website. There are also replacements that go to the game should any selected player be unable to play due to injuries. Prior to 1995, only the coaches and the players made Pro Bowl selections.

In order to be considered a Pro Bowler for a given year, a player must either have been one of the initial players selected to the team, or a player who accepts an invitation to the Pro Bowl as an alternate; invited alternates who decline to attend are not considered Pro Bowlers. Being a Pro Bowler is considered to be a mark of honor, and players who are accepted into the Pro Bowl are considered to be elite.

The Pro Bowl head coaches are traditionally the head coaches of the teams that lost in the AFC and NFC championship games for the same season of the Pro Bowl in question (not the case for the 1980 and 1981 seasons, regarding the Pro Bowls played in 1981 and 1982). However, for the 2010 and 2011 Pro Bowls, a new rule was presented: The teams that lose in the divisional playoff game with the best regular-season record will have their coaching staffs lead their respective conference Pro Bowl team. If the losing teams of each conference had the same regular season record the coaches from the higher-seeded team will get the Pro Bowl honor.

A Player of the Game was honored from 1951–56. From 1957–71, awards were presented to both an Outstanding Back and an Outstanding Lineman.

In 1972, there were awards for both an Outstanding Offensive Player and an Outstanding Defensive Player.

From 1973–2007, only one Player of the Game award was honored (though three times this award has been presented to multiple players in a single game).

In 2008 the award was changed to Most Valuable Player (MVP).^.

Since 1984 the winner has received the Dan McGuire Award.

Players are paid for participating in the game with the winning team receiving a larger payout. In the 2011 season, a record $50,000 was awarded for a win versus $25,000 for the losers.

The NFL's all-star game draws bigger television ratings than all other major sports all-star games. The 2012 Pro Bowl drew 13.5 million viewers

Despite the great viewership and the “fun” aspect the Pro Bowl has for players, on Oct. 24, 2012, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had second thoughts about the Pro Bowl taking place this year, telling a Sirius XM show that if the players did not play more competitively, he is “not inclined to play it anymore.”

Immaculate Reception

On Dec. 13, 1972, one of the most exciting plays in NFL history happened between the Raiders and Steelers, the Immaculate Reception.

The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Oakland Raiders in an AFC divisional playoff game Dec. 23, 1972. The Steelers had won nine of their last 10 games. Oakland came in with a six-game winning streak.

With 22 seconds left in the game, the Steelers had a fourth-and-10 on their own 40-yard line down 7-6. Terry Bradshaw scrambled out of the pocket, was nearly sacked twice before letting a 30-yard pass fly to running back John Fuqua. The ball deflected off of defender Jack Tatum and Fuqua and was knocked towards the line of scrimmage about 15 yards. There, Franco Harris scooped up the ball and ran 40-yards to the end zone untouched.

The remarkable comeback was complete as the Steelers beat the Raiders 13-7.

Neither team played well and the Steelers actually had a 6-0 lead before Oakland quarterback Ken Stabler scampered for 30-yards in the fourth quarter for the only score for the Raiders. The seven-point total was the lowest of the season for Oakland.

Pittsburgh lost the AFC Championship to the Miami Dolphins a week later. The Dolphins went on to have the only undefeated season in modern football. Had the Raiders played Miami, the outcome might have been different for the Dolphins.

The New England Patriots would try to recreate the undefeated season with a longer, 16-game schedule in 2007. However, the Patriots would eventually lose to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.

Since 2007 no team has come close to have an undefeated season, as no team has gone 16-0 into the playoffs.

The "Heidi" Game

On Nov. 17, 1968, one of the worst moments in sports broadcasting took place. 

The New York Jets were facing the Oakland Raiders in an AFL battle. The Jets held a 42-29 lead against the Raiders and seemed to be in good shape.

However, NBC made the controversial decision to switch off the game in the final minutes and start showing "Heidi" instead.

What fans on the east coast missed was an exciting comeback by the Raiders. They scored two touchdowns in the last minute to win the game 43-42.

This game would lead to new measures to make sure nothing like this would happen again.

In the late 1960s, few professional football games took longer than two and a half hours to play, and the Jets–Raiders three-hour time slot was thought to be adequate. A high-scoring contest, together with a number of injuries and penalties for the two bitter American Football League rivals, caused the game to run long. NBC executives had ordered that Heidi must begin on time, but given the exciting game, they decided to postpone the start of the film and continue football coverage. As 7 p.m. approached, many members of the public called NBC to inquire about the schedule, to complain or opine, jamming NBC's switchboards.

As NBC executives were trying to call the same switchboards to implement their decision, the change could not be communicated, and Heidi began as scheduled. The movie preempted the final moments of the game in the eastern half of the country, to the outrage of viewers who missed two Oakland touchdowns that turned the game around.

The Heidi Game led to a change in the way professional football is shown on network television; games are shown to their conclusion before evening programming begins. To ensure that network personnel could communicate under similar circumstances, special telephones (dubbed "Heidi phones") were installed, with a connection to a different telephone exchange from other network phones. In 1997, the Heidi Game was voted the most memorable regular season game in pro football history.

Broncos Victorious Over Patriots

On Sep. 9, 1960, the Denver Broncos defeat the Boston Patriots, 13-10, in the first ever game played in the American Football League. 

The Broncos had lost all five of their exhibition games and wouldn't experience a winning season until 1973 -- after they had already merged into the NFL. 

But on this Friday afternoon, it was Denver who was victorious. 

Patriots kicker Gino Cappelletti scored the league's first points with a 35-yard field goal to begin the game.

While the Broncos would remain in Denver, the Patriots eventually moved south to Foxborough. When they did, the team was temporarily renamed the "Bay State Patriots," much to the chagrin of many sports writers. "When I came here in February of 1971, they were the Bay State Patriots," Upton Bell, then the General Manager of the Patriots, told the Boston Globe in 2009. "The first newspaper headline I saw read, ‘BS Patriots.’ I said, ‘Oh, no. The ‘BS Patriots’? Like the ‘bull [expletive] Patriots'?

"Everybody was making jokes about us. I figured, ‘We’re not in Boston, and we’re in the middle of New England -- why not become the New England Patriots?" 

The team did just that in March, only a month after becoming the BS Patriots.