1961 American Football League season

The 1961 AFL season was the second regular season of the American Football League. It consisted of 8 franchises split into two divisions: the East Division (Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Titans of New York, Boston Patriots) and the West Division (San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos, Dallas Texans, Oakland Raiders).

1961 AFL season
Regular season
Duration	September 9 – December 17, 1961
Playoffs
Date	December 24, 1961
Eastern champion	Houston Oilers
Western champion	San Diego Chargers
Site	Balboa Stadium, San Diego, California
Champion	Houston Oilers
← 1960 AFL seasons 1962 →

Oilers

Titans

Bills

Patriots

Chargers

Texans

Raiders

Broncos

AFL teams: West, East

After having spent its inaugural season in Los Angeles, the Chargers moved to San Diego, California for this AFL season; 56 years later, the franchise returned to their original home.

The season ended when the Houston Oilers defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game.

Division races

The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was a tie in the standings at the top of either division, a one-game playoff would be held to determine the division winner.

The San Diego Chargers won their first eleven games, clinching the Western Division on November 12, with four games left. When San Diego reached 10–0, it had twice the wins of any other team in the AFL. In the Eastern Division, the Titans of New York lost 27–10 to Denver, while Boston beat Buffalo 52–21, in Week Seven, for a tie in the race, with the Pats at 3–3–1 and the Titans at 3–3–0. The Titans lost, 48–13 to San Diego, in Week Nine. The following week, though (November 12), Houston beat Boston, 27–15, to take a half-game lead, and won the division by a full game.

Week	Eastern		Western
1	Tie (Hou, TNY)	1–0–0	Tie (Den, SD)	1–0–0
2	Houston	1–0–0	San Diego	2–0–0
3	Tie (Bos, TNY)	2–1–0	San Diego	3–0–0
4	New York	3–1–0	San Diego	4–0–0
5	New York	3–2–0	San Diego	5–0–0
6	New York	3–3–0	San Diego	6–0–0
7	Tie (Bos, TNY)	3–3–1	San Diego	7–0–0
8	Tie (Bos, TNY)	4–3–1	San Diego	8–0–0
9	Boston	5–3–1	San Diego	9–0–0
10	Houston	5–3–1	San Diego	10–0–0
11	Houston	6–3–1	San Diego	11–0–0
12	Houston	7–3–1	San Diego	11–0–0
13	Houston	8–3–1	San Diego	11–1–0
14	Houston	9–3–1	San Diego	12–1–0
15	Houston	10–3–1	San Diego	12–2–0

Regular season

Results

Home/Road		Eastern Division				Western Division
		BOS	BUF	HOU	NY	DAL	DEN	OAK	SD
Eastern	Boston Patriots		52–21	31–31	20–21	28–21	45–17	20–17	27–38
	Buffalo Bills	21–23		16–28	41–31	27–24	10–22	22–31	11–19
	Houston Oilers	27–15	12–22		49–13	38–7	45–14	55–0	33–13
	Titans of New York	37–30	21–14	21–48		28–7	35–28	23–12	10–25
Western	Dallas Texans	17–18	20–30	26–21	35–24		49–21	43–11	10–26
	Denver Broncos	24–28	10–23	14–55	27–10	12–19		27–24	16–19
	Oakland Raiders	21–35	21–26	16–47	6–14	35–42	33–19		10–41
	San Diego Chargers	0–41	28–10	34–24	48–13	24–14	37–0	44–0

Standings

AFL Eastern Division view talk edit W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK Houston Oilers 10 3 1 .769 4–1–1 513 242 W9 Boston Patriots 9 4 1 .692 2–3–1 413 313 W4 New York Titans 7 7 0 .500 3–3 301 390 L2 Buffalo Bills 6 8 0 .429 2–4 294 342 L1 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings in the AFL.

AFL Western Division view talk edit W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK San Diego Chargers 12 2 0 .857 6–0 396 219 L1 Dallas Texans 6 8 0 .429 4–2 334 343 W2 Denver Broncos 3 11 0 .214 1–5 251 432 L7 Oakland Raiders 2 12 0 .143 1–5 237 458 L6

Playoffs

Main article: 1961 American Football League Championship Game

	AFL Championship Game
	December 24, 1961 – Balboa Stadium
	Houston Oilers	10
	San Diego Chargers	3

Awards

• AP AFL Player of The Year: George Blanda, Houston Oilers
• UPI AFL Player of The Year: George Blanda, Houston Oilers

Stadium changes

• The relocated San Diego Chargers moved from Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to Balboa Stadium
• The Oakland Raiders continued to play in San Francisco, playing all their home games at Candlestick Park

Coaching changes

Offseason

None

In-season

• Boston Patriots: Lou Saban was fired after five games. Assistant coach Mike Holovak took over the head coaching duties.
• Houston Oilers: Lou Rymkus was fired after five games. Assistant coach Wally Lemm took over the head coaching duties.
• Oakland Raiders: Eddie Erdelatz was fired after two games. Marty Feldman took over.

See also

• 1961 NFL season

External links

• Football Database^[usurped]