1966 NFL season

• 1. League Expansion And Structure

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  The National Football League added the Atlanta Falcons on the 8th of June 1965. Commissioner Pete Rozelle granted ownership of the new franchise to Rankin Smith, Sr. The league awarded the Falcons the first pick in the 1966 NFL draft and the final pick in each of the first five rounds. An expansion draft followed six weeks later. This addition brought the total number of teams to fifteen. Fifteen is an odd number. One team had to sit out every week during the regular season. Each team played fourteen games over a fifteen-week schedule. The New Orleans Saints joined as the sixteenth team in 1967. Scheduled byes did not return until the league expanded again.

• 2. The Super Bowl Inception

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  Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35, 10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the 15th of January 1967. This game was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game at the time. It marked the first interleague championship between the two rival leagues. Bart Starr won Most Valuable Player honors for his performance. Tom Landry received Coach of the Year awards for leading Dallas. The Packers had won their third consecutive league title that year. They beat the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Championship Game before facing the Chiefs. The game would eventually be renamed the Super Bowl. All four AFL-NFL matchups were retroactively named as such. The 1966 season is now considered the first of the Super Bowl era.

• 3. Historic Scoring Records

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  Washington Redskins defeated the New York Giants 72, 41 in week 12. That final score stands as the highest scoring game in NFL history. Pat Studstill set a record for consecutive games with more than 125 receiving yards. He achieved this feat five times during the season. No player tied that specific streak until Calvin Johnson several decades later. Studstill also became the third ever player to complete a 99-yard pass play. These records emerged from a season where competition intensified across all divisions. The Washington victory over Detroit Lions in week 13 saw the Redskins win 34, 31 on a field goal at 0:08. Such high-scoring affairs became rare after this particular matchup.

• 4. Thanksgiving Day Tradition

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  Dallas Cowboys adopted the practice of hosting Thanksgiving games in 1966. General Manager Tex Schramm recognized this as an opportunity for the franchise to increase its popularity. Every other team turned down the offer to host an annual holiday game. The Cowboys had been founded six years earlier when they joined the league. It is widely rumored that the Cowboys sought a guarantee regarding regular hosting rights. Games on days other than Sunday were uncommon at the time and thus high attendance was not certain. Since then, two traditional Thanksgiving Day pro football games have existed in Detroit and Dallas. St. Louis hosted instead of Dallas in 1975 and 1977. Primetime games on Thanksgiving night would not occur until 2006.

• 5. AFL-NFL Merger Agreement

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  The two leagues agreed on the 8th of June 1966, to merge into a single organization. Under the agreement, existing teams would be retained without moving outside their metropolitan areas. All four AFL-NFL matchups were retroactively renamed as Super Bowls later. The leagues officially merged in 1970 to form one league with two conferences named American Football Conference and National Football Conference. An expanded league with 24 teams formed initially. This number increased to 26 teams by 1969 and to 28 teams by 1970 or soon thereafter. While maintaining separate schedules through 1969, the leagues agreed to play an annual championship game beginning in January 1967. The competitive war between the NFL and the American Football League reached its peak before this decision.

• 6. Rule Changes And Equipment

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  Goal posts were standardized in the NFL during this season. They were to be painted bright yellow with two non-curved supports offset from the goal line. Uprights stood above the crossbar. The new goal-post rule is often referred to as the Don Chandler Rule. Placekicker for the Green Bay Packers inspired this change after a controversial field goal tied the Western Divisional playoff game at Lambeau Field. Many spectators thought the kick missed because it was high above the upright. Field judge Jim Tunney ruled the kick good. Chandler later hit a field goal that defeated the Baltimore Colts in overtime. Another rule change born from the 1965 Western Divisional playoff placed two officials under each upright for field goal attempts. These changes affected how games were officiated moving forward.