# 1965 American Football League season

The 1965 AFL season was the sixth regular season of the American Football League.
The season also saw a change of television address as the games moved from ABC to NBC.
The season ended when the Buffalo Bills defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game. The next season, the AFL would join the NFL to form the AFL-NFL World Championship game, known today as the Super Bowl.

## 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 top of either division, a one-game playoff would be held to determine the division winner.
There was little drama in either of the AFL's division races in 1965. The Bills led the Eastern Division from start to finish, ending five games ahead of the 5–8–1 Jets. In the Western Division, San Diego had three potential wins cancelled out when they were tied by Kansas City (10–10), Boston (13–13) and Buffalo (20–20), but their 9–2–3 finish (.818) was well ahead of Oakland's 8–5–1 record (.615).
| Week | Eastern | | Western | |
| 1 | Tie (Buf, Hou) | 1–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Tie (Buf, Hou) | 2–0–0 | San Diego | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | Buffalo | 3–0–0 | San Diego | 2–0–1 |
| 4 | Buffalo | 4–0–0 | San Diego | 3–0–1 |
| 5 | Buffalo | 4–1–0 | San Diego | 4–0–1 |
| 6 | Buffalo | 5–1–0 | San Diego | 4–0–2 |
| 7 | Buffalo | 6–1–0 | San Diego | 5–0–2 |
| 8 | Buffalo | 6–2–0 | San Diego | 5–1–2 |
| 9 | Buffalo | 7–2–0 | San Diego | 6–1–2 |
| 10 | Buffalo | 8–2–0 | San Diego | 6–2–2 |
| 11 | Buffalo | 8–2–0 | San Diego | 6–2–2 |
| 12 | Buffalo | 8–2–1 | San Diego | 6–2–3 |
| 13 | Buffalo | 9–2–1 | San Diego | 7–2–3 |
| 14 | Buffalo | 10–2–1 | San Diego | 8–2–3 |
| 15 | Buffalo | 10–3–1 | San Diego | 9–2–3 |

## Regular season
### Results

| Home/Road | Home/Road | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division |
| Home/Road | Home/Road | BOS | BUF | HOU | NY | DEN | KC | OAK | SD |
| Eastern | Boston Patriots | | 7–23 | 42–14 | 20–30 | 10–27 | 10–10 | 10–24 | 13–13 |
| Eastern | Buffalo Bills | 24–7 | | 17–19 | 33–21 | 31–13 | 34–25 | 17–12 | 3–34 |
| Eastern | Houston Oilers | 31–10 | 18–29 | | 27–21 | 21–31 | 38–36 | 21–33 | 26–37 |
| Eastern | New York Jets | 23–27 | 14–12 | 41–14 | | 45–10 | 10–14 | 24–24 | 9–34 |
| Western | Denver Broncos | 20–28 | 15–30 | 28–17 | 16–13 | | 23–31 | 20–28 | 21–35 |
| Western | Kansas City Chiefs | 27–17 | 7–23 | 52–21 | 10–13 | 45–35 | | 14–7 | 31–7 |
| Western | Oakland Raiders | 30–21 | 14–17 | 21–17 | 24–14 | 24–13 | 37–10 | | 6–17 |
| Western | San Diego Chargers | 6–22 | 20–20 | 31–14 | 38–7 | 34–31 | 10–10 | 24–14 | |

### Standings

AFL Eastern Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| Buffalo Bills | 10 | 3 | 1 | .769 | 4–2 | 313 | 226 | L1 |
| New York Jets | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 3–3 | 285 | 303 | W1 |
| Boston Patriots | 4 | 8 | 2 | .333 | 2–4 | 244 | 302 | W3 |
| Houston Oilers | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 3–3 | 298 | 429 | L7 |
AFL Western Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| San Diego Chargers | 9 | 2 | 3 | .818 | 4–1–1 | 340 | 227 | W3 |
| Oakland Raiders | 8 | 5 | 1 | .615 | 3–3 | 298 | 239 | L1 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 7 | 5 | 2 | .583 | 4–1–1 | 322 | 285 | W1 |
| Denver Broncos | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 0–6 | 303 | 392 | L4 |

## Playoffs

| AFL Championship Game | AFL Championship Game |
| December 26, 1965 – Balboa Stadium | December 26, 1965 – Balboa Stadium |
| Buffalo Bills | 23 |
| San Diego Chargers | 0 |

## Stadium changes

* The Houston Oilers moved from Jeppensen Stadium to Rice Stadium

## Coaching changes

* Denver Broncos: Mac Speedie began his first full season. He replaced Jack Faulkner after four games into the 1964 season.
* Houston Oilers: Sammy Baugh was fired and replaced by Hugh Taylor.