By Anthony Holden
CBS SportsLine Historian

In a year where one of the biggest stories was that of a storybook character intruding on a football nation's Sunday afternoon, it was only appropriate that the champions of pro football were of storybook vintage.

The New York Jets played a starring role in the wacky 1968 season. Their Nov. 17 showdown with the Raiders in Oakland became an epic not only for the way it ended, but also for the fact that nobody east of the Rocky Mountains saw it end. You see, executives at NBC decided to pull the plug on the thrilling game with New York clinging to a 32-29 lead and just 50 seconds left to play in order to start promptly at its 7 p.m. scheduled time the children's movie "Heidi."

Joe Namath is congratulated by coach Weeb Ewbank following Super Bowl III. (AP)

While furious football fans watched the little Swiss mountain girl with the freckles and the ponytails, the Raiders scored two touchdowns in those final 50 seconds to pull out an incredible 43-32 triumph.

But no true football fan missed the end of the Jets final game of the season. That was Super Bowl III in Miami's Orange Bowl when Joe Namath jogged off the field with his magical right arm raised, a lone finger waving in the warm South Florida air indicating that the Jets were truly No. 1 after their stunning 16-7 upset of the Baltimore Colts.

In 1968, the AFL finally proved that it could truly stand toe to toe with the established NFL, and as San Diego Chargers offensive tackle Ron Mix put it so eloquently, "That gave meaning to the careers of all of us in the AFL. We knew how good we were all along, but the public didn't. Not until the Jets won that game."

Fans of the AFL knew how good the Jets were in this, Namath's fourth year with the team. In 1967 he had thrown for 4,007 yards, a pro football record, but his inconsistencies showed up in 28 interceptions, many of them costly as the Jets lost the Eastern Division by a game to Houston.

But the Jets, aided by a terribly weak division whose other four teams -- Houston, Boston, Buffalo and Miami -- combined for a record of 17-37-2, cruised to the title in '68. Namath carved up opposing defenses and the New York defense set league standards for fewest first downs allowed (178) and yards per rushing attempt (3.2).

New York went 11-3, four games better than the Oilers. After losing to the Raiders in the "Heidi" game, the Jets won their final four games.

The Oilers, surprise Eastern Division winners in 1967, were doomed by a 1-4 start and winning three of their final four only salvaged a .500 record. Houston had allowed the fewest points in the AFL in '67 (199), and that total rose to only 248, third-best in the league. Houston's pass defense was particularly strong thanks to players such as defensive backs Miller Farr and Ken Houston as the Oilers were No. 1 in fewest passing yards allowed, passing first downs and passing TDs allowed.

Offensively, quarterback Pete Beathard, a midseason acquisition in '67, was on board at the start, but his season was cut short by an appendectomy so Don Trull stepped in. Neither was very consistent, though, and running back Hoyle Granger (848 yards) continued to be the Oilers' primary weapon.

Miami, in its third year of existence, showed signs of improvement. After a 0-3 start the Dolphins played .500 ball behind quarterback Bob Griese, who completed 52 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns. Two rookie runners, Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, gave Miami some punch on the ground, and rookies Dick Anderson and Manny Fernandez helped solidify the defense, laying the foundation for the great Dolphin teams of the 1970s.

Mike Holovak's final Boston team went 4-10 thanks to woeful production from the quarterback position. Holovak traded aging veteran Babe Parilli to New York for Mike Taliaferro, and Taliaferro flopped and ultimately lost his job to rookie Tom Sherman, who wasn't much better. To make matters worse, two-time defending AFL rushing champ Jim Nance gained only 593 yards thanks to an ankle injury.

The Bills, the dominant team in the mid-60s, hit rock bottom with a 1-12-1 record, second-worst in AFL history behind only Oakland's 1-13 mark in 1962. Jack Kemp blew out his knee during a preseason scrimmage and didn't play all year, and Ed Rutkowski, Tom Flores, Dan Darragh and Kay Stephenson all failed to generate an attack. Even the once-mighty Buffalo defense collapsed as it gave up a franchise-record 2,021 rushing yards. Joe Collier was fired two games into the season, replaced by the team's scouting director, Harvey Johnson. Incredibly, Buffalo's only win of the season came against the Jets, a 37-35 decision during which Namath was intercepted five times with three returned for touchdowns.

In the West, Oakland and Kansas City waged a wonderful duel, each finishing 12-2 and creating the need for a divisional playoff, just the second in league history. The teams split a pair of regular-season games, then closed the season with lengthy winning streaks to set up the rubber match in Oakland, won in a rout by the Raiders, 41-6.

Daryle Lamonica continued to bomb away with 25 TD passes and 3,245 yards, Hewritt Dixon powered a viable running game with 865 yards, and both Fred Biletnikoff and Warren Wells surpassed 1,000 yards receiving as Oakland led the league in scoring with 453 points.

Defensively, the Raiders were No. 2 behind Kansas City in points allowed (233) and they led the AFL in sacks with 49 despite the season-long absence of Tom Keating and a host of other injuries.

The Chiefs set the standard on defense as they set a league record for fewest points allowed (170) and tied the record for fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (4). Their punishing performances, keyed by future Hall of Famers Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan and Willie Lanier, made their collapse in the playoff game a puzzling occurrence. Len Dawson led the AFL in passing completion at 59 percent and he threw only nine interceptions, but he never established a go-to receiver as running back Mike Garrett led the team with 33 catches.

Sid Gillman squeezed a 9-5 record out of the Chargers with an aerial attack led by John Hadl. Hadl topped all passers in attempts, completions, yards and touchdowns, but he also threw a league-worst 32 interceptions. Lance Alworth led the league in catches (68) and yards (1,312), and Gary Garrison also topped 1,000 yards receiving, but the passing game also worked against the Chargers. Their defense was torched for a league-worst 3,813 passing yards, nearly 17 yards per reception.

Denver lost on opening day to expansion Cincinnati, but showed improvement later in the year to finish 5-9 under Lou Saban. Rookie Marlin Briscoe took over for injured Steve Tensi at quarterback and his running and passing made games exciting, but he was eventually switched back to receiver, his natural position.

The expansion Bengals, the creation of legendary Paul Brown, were competitive from the start as evidenced by their inaugural victory over Denver. Cincinnati won three times and featured running back Paul Robinson who not only led the league in rushing, he was only back to top 1,000 yards that season.