Until the Joe Namath-led New York Jets shocked everyone by upsetting the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, it was widely assumed that no champion from the upstart American Football League stood a chance of beating the NFL’s champion. The far older NFL was the established league that appeared to have the superior players, yet football historian Dave Steidel wasn’t so sure that was the case in 1963, three years before the NFL champions and AFL champions first squared off in the Super Bowl. He takes a detailed look at the 11-3 season of the innovative, high-scoring San Diego Chargers, a season that culminated in a 51-10 mauling of the Boston Patriots in the AFL championship game.Then in a computer simulation, he describes a virtual showdown between the Chargers and the Chicago Bears, the NFL champs. The final score: San Diego 30, Chicago 20.
Here’s an excerpt from The Uncrowned Champs:
“The San Diego Chargers, who finished with an 11-3 record, ran away from the Boston Patriots, 51-10, to win the [1963] AFL title with an explosive offense and the best defense in the league. As AFL supporters were clamoring about their Chargers being the best team in pro football, there was a suggestion that an AFL vs. NFL championship game should be played to determine a true champion. NFL supporters were quick to pull the trigger and shoot holes in the claim as being whimsical and repudiated the suggestion, citing the notion that no AFL team led by a castoff quarterback and an inferior roster could touch the best defensive team the NFL had seen in years [the Chicago Bears].
“This would be the same rhetoric that would surface prior to January 12, 1969, when the Baltimore Colts brought their ‘best ever’ defense to Super Bowl III and were favored to win by 17 points over the New York Jets. As we all know of ‘Broadway’ Joe Namath’s famous promise, the Jets would be victorious, 16.-7.”
