Sunday, Dec. 22
At Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Raiders 41, Chiefs 6

By Anthony Holden
CBS SportsLine Historian
The Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs ended the 1968 regular season in drastically different fashions.

During the final three weeks, defending AFL champion Oakland struggled for survival. The Raiders barely beat two of the league's worst teams -- Buffalo (13-10) and Denver (33-27) -- before hitting the road to down San Diego 34-27 thanks to a second-half rally.

Daryle Lamonica (left), seen here against the 49ers, decimated the Kansas City secondary. (AP)

The Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs ended the 1968 regular season in drastically different fashions.

During the final three weeks, defending AFL champion Oakland struggled for survival. The Raiders barely beat two of the league's worst teams -- Buffalo (13-10) and Denver (33-27) -- before hitting the road to down San Diego 34-27 thanks to a second-half rally.

Kansas City, meanwhile, ended the regular season by beating up on three inferior opponents -- Houston, San Diego and Denver -- by a combined score of 94-20.

Because both teams ended the regular season 12-2, Kansas City and Oakland were forced to play the first Western Division playoff game in AFL history. It was only the second divisional playoff game.

The Raiders and Chiefs had split two games during the regular season.

The Chiefs, crippled by injuries to their receiving corps, attempted only three passes in the first meeting, at Kansas City. But thanks to a 294-yard rushing output, the Chiefs whipped the Raiders 24-10. That was Oakland's second consecutive loss -- one more than it had suffered in all of '67 -- and dropped the Raiders to 4-2 while Kansas City improved to 6-1. (That would be Oakland's final defeat until the AFL Championship Game.)

Two weeks later in Oakland, the Raiders rolled past the Chiefs 38-21 as Daryle Lamonica and George Blanda shared the quarterbacking duties. Lamonica, forced to leave the game after suffering a twisted knee, and Blanda combined for a league-record 469 passing yards. Lamonica threw two scoring passes, and running back Pete Banaszak scored twice against a Kansas City defense that had allowed just 45 points in its previous five games.

The rubber game of the season series would decide which team would advance to the AFL Championship Game against the Eastern Division champion New York Jets at Shea Stadium.

This time, it was all Oakland. Lamonica threw five touchdown passes and the Raiders held Kansas City without a touchdown for the first time in five years in an easy 41-6 victory before a record crowd of 53,357 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

"I didn't think it would be a runaway," Jets coach Weeb Ewbank said of Oakland's rout of Kansas City. "Oakland's a great football team -- they showed that -- and this victory will make them all the more confident."

The Raiders took charge early, scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter. A critical pass interference penalty against the Chiefs kept alive Oakland's first possession, an 80-yard drive that ended when Lamonica connected with Fred Biletnikoff for a 24-yard TD pass.

Oakland scored on its next series, as Lamonica hit Warren Wells in the end zone with a 23-yard pass. Just as on Biletnikoff's TD catch, Kansas City cornerback Goldie Sellers was victimized. Chiefs coach Hank Stram then replaced Sellers with Emmitt Thomas -- that didn't help. Thomas lost coverage on Biletnikoff with 11 seconds to go in the quarter and the result was a 44-yard touchdown reception that made the score 21-0.

The Chiefs' defense, which had allowed an AFL record-low 170 points and just 18 touchdowns in 14 games, was stunned.

Kansas City's offense also failed to do its job. After Len Dawson connected with Otis Taylor for a 55-yard gain to the Raiders' 7-yard line, the Chiefs -- aided by an Oakland penalty -- had seven shots at the end zone and failed to score a TD. Kansas City settled for Jan Stenerud's 10-yard field goal.

Minutes later, after a short punt, the Chiefs regained possession at the Oakland 39 and moved to a first-and-goal at the 7. Again, Kansas City was unable to break through, and Stenerud kicked another short field goal to make the score 21-6.

The Chiefs finished with just 13 first downs and 70 rushing yards. Much of Dawson's 253 passing yards came in garbage time.

Lamonica's fourth touchdown pass, a 54-yarder to Biletnikoff, gave the Raiders a commanding 28-6 halftime lead.

In trying to rally the Chiefs, Dawson, the league's highest percentage passer, was thrust into a one-dimensional passing mode. He threw four second-half interceptions, killing any hopes of Kansas City getting back into the game.

After a scoreless third quarter, Lamonica hit Wells with a 35-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth. Blanda kicked two field goals cap the rout and help send Oakland to New York.

The Jets, who had lost a heartbreaking 43-32 decision to the Raiders in Oakland in mid-November -- the infamous "Heidi" game -- would have the home-field advantage and extra week of rest.

"The Jets are a great team, good and hard-hitting, but our guys play pretty well, too," Lamonica said. "It'll be a whale of a ballgame."

It was, as Joe Namath and the Jets prevailed 27-23 and advanced to Super Bowl III against the Baltimore Colts.