1967 American Football League Championship Game

It matched the Western Division champion Oakland Raiders (13–1) and the Eastern Division champion Houston Oilers (9–4–1) to decide the American Football League (AFL) champion for the 1967 season.


Quarterback Daryle Lamonica, traded from the Buffalo Bills in the offseason, led the Raiders to a 13–1 record, throwing 30 touchdown passes in the process. The Oilers went from last place in the East in 1966 (3–11) to first in 1967,^[8] beating out the New York Jets by a game. Most of the Oilers' offense centered on big fullback Hoyle Granger, and a midseason quarterback trade for the shifty Pete Beathard (sending their own starter, Jacky Lee, to the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs) proved to be the spark that turned Houston's season around.


The teams had met once in the regular season, three weeks earlier in Houston, with Oakland winning 19–7 to clinch the Western division title.^[4][8][9] This was Houston's fourth and final appearance (1960, 1961, 1962) in the title game and Oakland's first.


In contrast to the frigid conditions earlier in the day at the NFL championship game in Green Bay, the temperature for the AFL title game in northern California was 47 °F (8 °C).^[5] The host Raiders were ten-point favorites.^[1][2]


Oakland won 40–7 and shredded the Oilers with 364 yards of offense, including 263 yards rushing, while allowing just 146 total yards and 38 yards on the ground. The Raiders also forced three turnovers and lost none themselves.^[5][6][10]


The attendance of 53,330 was a new record for the AFL title game, passing the 42,080 of the previous year at Buffalo.^[2]

The AFL added a sixth game official, the side linesman, in the previous season; the NFL added its sixth official, the line judge, in 1965. The seventh official, the side judge, was added in 1978.