The 1966 NFL season was the 47th regular season of the National Football League, and the first season in which the Super Bowl was played, though it was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The league expanded to 15 teams with the addition of the Atlanta Falcons, making a bye necessary each week for one team.
This was the last season that the NFL was divided only into two separate conferences, and only one postseason round was played, that being between the two conference champions. The season concluded with the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game; the NFL champion Green Bay Packers defeated the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on January 15, 1967. The interleague championship game would eventually be named the Super Bowl, and the 1966 season is now considered the first of the Super Bowl era.
Pat Studstill for the Detroit Lions set a record for consecutive games with more than 125 receiving yards with five, a record which was not tied until Calvin Johnson several decades later. He also became the 3rd ever player to complete a 99-yard pass play.
The highest scoring game in NFL history also took place during this season, with the then Washington Redskins defeating the New York Giants in a week 12 showdown with a final score of 72–41.
The AFL-NFL merger agreement
As the competitive war between the NFL and the American Football League reached its peak, the two leagues agreed on June 8, 1966 to merge. Under the agreement: The two leagues would combine to form an expanded league with 24 teams, which would be increased to 26 teams by 1969, and to 28 teams by 1970 or soon thereafter. All existing teams would be retained, and none of them would be moved outside of their metropolitan areas. While maintaining separate schedules through 1969, the leagues agreed to play an annual AFL-NFL World Championship Game beginning in January 1967 (this game was eventually renamed the Super Bowl, with all four AFL-NFL matchups being retroactively renamed as such). The two leagues would officially merge in 1970 to form one league with two conferences (named American Football Conference and National Football Conference).
Expansion
On June 3, 1965, the NFL announced its plans to add two teams in Four days later on June 7, the eight franchises of the rival American Football League (AFL) voted unanimously to add two teams in 1966, an AFL franchise was awarded to Atlanta the next day.
The NFL awarded the first of the two expansion franchises to the city of Atlanta on Commissioner Pete Rozelle granted ownership of the Atlanta Falcons to Rankin Smith, Sr. and they were awarded the first pick in the 1966 NFL Draft, as well as the final pick in each of the first five rounds. The league also provided the Falcons with an expansion draft six weeks later.
The AFL had originally targeted Atlanta and Philadelphia, but its two expansion teams became the Miami Dolphins in 1966 and the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968.
The competition with the AFL for Atlanta forced the first to be added a year early. The odd number of teams (15) in 1966 resulted in one idle team (bye) each week, with each team playing fourteen games over fifteen weeks (similar to : twelve games over thirteen weeks). The second expansion team, the New Orleans Saints, joined the NFL as planned in 1967 as its sixteenth franchise. Scheduled byes in the NFL's regular season did not return until .
Expansion Draft
The 1966 NFL expansion draft was held on February 15, 1966, with Falcons selecting 42 players from the other NFL teams.
Draft
The 1966 NFL Draft was held on November 27, 1965 at New York City's Summit Hotel. With the first pick, the Atlanta Falcons selected linebacker Tommy Nobis from The University of Texas.
Major rule changes
Goal posts were standardized in the NFL. They were to be in diameter, painted bright yellow, with two non-curved supports offset from the goal line, and uprights above the crossbar. In , the new "slingshot" goal post was made standard, with one curved support from the ground. In , the goal posts were returned to the end line, and the uprights were extended to above the crossbar, and to in .