Golden Football Magazine
NFL Championship Games
1966: Super Bowl 1 - Kansas City Chiefs vs Green Bay Packers

This series covers the history of the NFL through the prism of its yearly championship games.
Note: The gray boxes contain asides that provide interesting material but could be skipped
without losing the continuity of the article.

Continued from Part 2

1966 Kansas City Chiefs
# Player Pos. Hgt. Wgt. College Exp.
10 Pete Beathard QB 6-1 200 USC 3
14 Bobby Ply S 6-1 190 Baylor 5
15 Mike Mercer K 6-0 220 Arizona State 6
16 Len Dawson QB 6-0 190 Purdue 10
17 Fletcher Smith CB 6-0 180 Tennessee State 1
18 Emmitt Thomas CB 6-2 190 Bishop 1
20 Bobby Hunt S 6-1 195 Auburn 5
21 Mike Garrett RB 5-9 195 Southern California 1
22 Willie Mitchell CB 6-1 185 Tennessee State 3
23 Bert Coan RB 6-5 220 Kansas 5
24 Fred Williamson CB 6-3 210 Northwestern 7
25 Frank Pitts WR 6-3 200 Southern 2
32 Curtis McClinton RB 6-3 225 Kansas 5
35 Smokey Stover LB 6-0 225 Northeast Louisiana 7
42 Johnny Robinson S 6-1 205 LSU 7
44 Jerrel Wilson P 6-2 220 Southern Miss 4
45 Gene Thomas RB 6-1 210 Florida A&M 1
52 Bud Abell LB 6-3 220 Missouri 1
55 E. J. Holub LB 6-4 235 Texas Tech 6
56 Walt Corey LB 6-2 240 Miami (FL) 7
58 Andy Rice DT 6-2 260 Texas Southern 1
60 Al Reynolds G 6-3 250 Tarkio 7
61 Dennis Biodrowski G 6-1 250 Memphis 4
64 Curt Merz G 6-4 267 Iowa 5
65 Jon Gilliam C 6-2 240 Texas A&M-Commerce 6
66 Wayne Frazier C 6-3 245 Auburn 5
69 Sherrill Headrick LB 6-2 240 TCU 7
71 Ed Budde G 6-5 260 Michigan State 4
72 Tony DiMidio T 6-3 250 West Chester 1
73 Dave Hill T 6-5 265 Auburn 4
75 Jerry Mays DE 6-5 250 SMU 6
77 Jim Tyrer T 6-6 292 Ohio State 6
78 Bobby Bell LB 6-4 230 Minnesota 4
80 Reg Carolan WR 6-6 235 Idaho 5
84 Fred Arbanas TE 6-3 240 Michigan State 5
85 Chuck Hurston DE 6-6 240 Auburn 2
86 Buck Buchanan DT 6-7 285 Grambling State 4
87 Aaron Brown DE 6-5 255 Minnesota 1
88 Chris Burford WR 6-3 220 Stanford 7
89 Otis Taylor WR 6-2 210 Prairie View 2
1966 Green Bay Packers
# Player Pos. Hgt. Wgt. College Exp.
5 Paul Hornung HB 6-2 215 Notre Dame 9
12 Zeke Bratkowski QB 6-2 210 Georgia 13
15 Bart Starr QB 6-1 200 Alabama 11
21 Bob Jeter DB 6-1 200 Iowa 4
22 Elijah Pitts HB 6-1 205 Philander Smith 6
24 Willie Wood DB 5-10 190 USC 7
26 Herb Adderley DB 6-0 205 Michigan State 6
27 Red Mack WR 5-10 180 Notre Dame 6
31 Jim Taylor FB 6-0 215 LSU 9
33 Jim Grabowski FB 6-2 220 Illinois 1
34 Don Chandler P-K 6-2 215 Florida 11
37 Phil Vandersea RB 6-3 245 Massachusetts 1
40 Tom Brown S 6-1 190 Maryland 3
43 Doug Hart DB 6-0 190 Texas-Arlington 3
44 Donny Anderson RB 6-2 215 Texas Tech 1
45 Dave Hatchcock LB 6-0 195 Memphis State 1
50 Bill Curry C 6-3 235 Georgia Tech 2
56 Tommy Crutcher LB 6-3 230 TCU 3
57 Ken Bowman C 6-3 230 Wisconsin 3
60 Lee Roy Caffey LB 6-4 240 Texas A&M 4
63 Fuzzy Thurston G 6-1 245 Valparaiso 9
64 Jerry Kramer G 6-3 245 Idaho 9
66 Ray Nitschke MLB 6-3 235 Illinois 9
68 Gale Gillingham G 6-3 255 Minnesota 3
72 Steve Wright T 6-6 250 Alabama 3
73 Jim Weatherwax DT 6-7 260 Los Angeles State 1
74 Henry Jordan DT 6-2 250 Virginia 10
75 Forrest Gregg G-T 6-4 250 SMU 11
76 Bob Skoronski T 6-3 250 Indiana 11
77 Ron Kostelnik DT 6-4 260 Cincinnati 6
78 Robert Brown DE 6-5 260 Arkansas-Pine Bluff 1
80 Bob Long WR 6-3 205 Wichita State 3
81 Marv Fleming TE 6-4 230 Utah 4
82 Lionel Aldridge DE 6-3 255 Utah State 4
84 Carroll Dale WR 6-2 200 Virginia Tech 7
85 Max McGee WR 6-3 205 Tulane 13
86 Boyd Dowler WR 6-5 225 Colorado 8
87 Willie Davis DE 6-3 245 Grambling State 9
88 Bill Anderson TE 6-3 210 Tennessee 9
89 Dave Robinson LB 6-3 245 Penn State 4



Chiefs take the field.


McGee and Hornung on bench.


Dowler blocks Headrick for Taylor.


Starr throws as Buchanan closes in.


Garrett tries to elude Grabowski on punt return.


Gillingham and Grabowski chase Garrett on kick return.


Starr fades to pass.


Starr passes.


Stram on sideline.


Bobby Bell sacks Bart Starr as Jerry Mays looks on.


McGee grabs pass behind him and runs for touchdown.

61,946 attended Super Bowl I. That number could be viewed two ways.
  • It wasn't bad considering the site and date of the game had not been set until early December.
  • But over 30,000 vacant seats didn't make a favorable impression on TV viewers across the country.
    Steve Sabol of NFL Films: The people in Los Angeles didn't attend because they didn't see it as a big game. Super Bowl 1 was considered a sideshow, an afterthought. I had 10 tickets, and I couldn't give them away.
  • The crowd included more than 2,000 Green Bay fans, waving green pennants and wearing gold and green beanies. Included was Gov. Warren Knowles.
  • A similar contingent of Kansas City rooters made the trip, led by their trumpeter.
  • If the local fans in attendance had a preference, it was the Chiefs since the Rams competed against the Packers in the NFL West.
  • Game time temperature was 72°, sunny with a slight haze.
  • Stram's comment earlier in the week summarized what was about to happen. It's been a war or words for seven years. Now it's nice to have the war on grass, where it belongs.
    The kickoff was delayed about ten minutes by an unusual clock issue. Since most pro teams played in baseball stadiums, the official time was kept on the sideline by the clock operator of the officiating crew. But Tex Schramm, GM of the Cowboys, proposed a system that had been successfully tested in Dallas. The clock operator on the sideline would operate the game clock at the south end of the Coliseum via remote control. The system was tested and retested during the week and worked flawlessly. But when the operator activated the system before the game, one of the giant hands on the clock fell into the empty stands below. Apparently all the testing had worked the hand loose from its mooring.
The two teams started out like boxers probing each other in Round One.
  • Quarter 1
    The Packers won the toss and, with no deferring allowed yet, elected to receive.
    Herb Adderley returned the kickoff from the 6 to the 25. Fired up LB E. J. Holub made the tackle along with P Jerrel Wilson and LB Bobby Bell. Using their conservative offense with nothing fancy, Green Bay started on the ground - FB Jim Taylor for four, HB Elijah Pitts for five, and Taylor again for the first down at the 37.

    Pitts takes handoff.
    Stram: We started out with our triple stack defense, and Green Bay ran right into the strength of it by sending Jim Taylor into the line. Andy Rice made the tackle, but they still gained four yards. Elijah Pitts ran to the left side and made five yards. Then Taylor ran to the weak side, exactly what we expected them to do on short yardage situations. Green Bay rarely attempted to fool people. They executed well and took the attitude, "Here we come. Try and stop us." They were good enough at it to still ram it down the throat of a lot of teams.
    Packer G Forrest Gregg: We were used to going up against a basic four-man line. We went to the line of scrimmage, and Kansas City showed a defensive front we had not seen before. It was puzzling, out of our realm of experience on a football field. Jerry Kramer was playing right guard. I looked over at Jerry. He looked over at me and threw his hands up and shrugged his shoulders like, "I don't know."
    WR Boyd Dowler had to leave the game after aggravating his shoulder injury while blocking. That brought Max McGee in to take his place.
    Dowler: I blocked ... Johnny Robinson, and it was a bad idea because it didn't work. And I hurt my shoulder and went out. In the NFL Championship Game against Dallas, DB Mike Gaechter's late hit after a third-quarter touchdown injured my shoulder. So the hit in the Super Bowl didn't do me any good.
    Dowler's leaving the game was considered a bad break at the time, but the substitution of McGee would have a big impact on the contest.
    As the game began, McGee and Hornung were sitting on the bench making plans for Paul's upcoming wedding in Hollywood. They were paying little attention to the game.
    Reserve G Ken Bowman sat on the bench next to McGee. He rolled up his pants' legs. "C'mon, Ken, we can at least get a sun tan out here."
    McGee: I heard Lombardi yell, "McGee! McGee!" Boyd Dowler had gotten hurt. I had to scramble to my feet. I grabbed a helmet - I'm pretty sure it was someone else's - and I went in. It was one of the best days of my career, one of those days when I couldn't do anything wrong.
    Starr, who had encountered Max as he returned somewhat dissheveled to the hotel after his night out, recalled: As Max jogged toward our huddle, I could hardly believe my eyes. He looked ready to go. Max always had the ability to turn his humor and concentration on and off, but this was an extreme example even by his standards.
    WR Bob Long: I was the guy playing behind Boyd Dowler, and if he got hurt, I was supposed to go in, right? ... McGee was behind me on the depth chart. I was the third receiver behind Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale ... In the first series of play, Boyd Dowler hurts his shoulder. So I'm getting ready to put on my helmet and go in. In typical Vince Lombardi style, this is really typical of Coach Vince Lombardi, he was known for doing the unexpected, all at once Lombardi yells out, "McGee!" On the bench everybody's looking at each other. He's going to put Max McGee into this game? Max was also getting older. By the way, 34 years is old for a receiver. ... I'm distraught. McGee looks around for his helmet and cannot find it. One of the guys on the team yelled out, "Max! You left your helmet in the locker room!" He didn't expect to play at all, in fact so much so that he forgot his helmet. I said, "Max, use my helmet. Take my helmet for the first series of plays, and we'll send someone into the locker room to get yours."
    Milwaukee Sentinel     writer Bud Lea: McGee said later he had absolutely no idea why Lombardi called him to replace Dowler. "I hadn't played all year," McGee told me. "Let's put it this way," he said. "He had several guys he could have put in there. But I knew enough about Vince to know that he wasn't going to put in the younger guy if he could stick me in there for a game that meant more to him than any game he ever coached."
    Green Bay receivers coach Bob Schnelker on McGee: He was a seasoned player. But you didn't expect him to do as great as he did. He knew the plays. Mentally he never screwed up. He was always into the game. Physically he trained enough that he could play the whole game. He worked hard on the practice field, just as hard as the rest of them. ... Vince kept people like Max around who knew what they were doing ...
    QB Bart Starr tried his first pass but underthrew McGee at the 47. S Johnny Robinson might have made the interception if the pass had not been thrown short. When Starr dropped to pass again, DT Buck Buchanan sacked him at the 26.
    Buchanan would give the Packers fits all afternoon with five solo tackles, one assist, and a sack despite being double-teamed most of the game. Gigantic size, great quickness, great intensity, outstanding intelligence in the way he played, was the way C Bill Curry summarized the 6'7" 275 lb fourth-year defensive tackle from Grambling.
    Burford on his teammate: They had no answer for Buck Buchanan. ... I don't think they'd seen a player like Buck ...
    Packer G Jerry Kramer on Buchanan: He surprised a lot of us, not only with his size and strength but also with his move, his quickness. He was a much better ballplayer than we had seen in the films.
    Later in the game, injured Boyd Dowler watched G Fuzzy Thurston battle Big Buck. When Fuzzy came to the sidelines, Boyd noticed his face mask was bent. I gave Fuzzy a look and said, "Fuzzy, your face mask is all bent out of shape!" He said, Well for God's sake! If you were blockin' that big son of a bitch, your face mask would be torn up!" I said, "Okay, how are you doing against him?" He just looked up at me and smiled. "I'm kicking his ass!"
    Following their standard strategy for third-and-long, the Chiefs put in an extra linebacker and lined up in a 3-4 defense instead of 4-3. One of the four linebackers, Bell, blitzed and downed Starr again back at the 21. After the encouraging stand by Kansas City, Don Chandler punted to Mike Garrett, who returned from the 28 to the 37.
    KC     used its patented "moving pocket" immediately as QB Lenny Dawson rolled left and hit WR Chris Burford but out of bounds. Dawson had to hesitate a second before throwing because LB Lee Roy Caffey moved into the way. On second-and-10, Garrett pushed ahead to the 41 where DT Ron Kostelnik made the tackle. Facing his first third down, Dawson sent FB Curtis McClinton to the outside so that MLB Ray Nitschke would follow him, then threw to Burford slanting over the middle to the Green Bay 47 to move the chains.

    Kostelnik takes aim at Dawson.
    Stram: Green Bay's defensive secondary played man-for-man with very soft coverage on the outside. Their cornerbacks, Herb Adderley and Bob Jeter, protected against the deep pass by allowing a five-yard cushion between them and the receivers they had to cover. We would be able to throw in front of them, particularly if we could delay the linebackers so they wouldn't immediately drop back into pass coverage.
    DT Henry Jordan led the push that stopped Garrett for no gain. A delay of game penalty made it second-and-15 for the Chiefs. Green Bay's defense, the best in the NFL, loved situations like this. When Garrett went in motion to the outside, the secondary failed to rotate with the shift. So Jeter covered Garrett and left S Tom Brown to cover slot man Burford - a mismatch that the Chiefs wanted. Lenny rolled right and threw to Burford again, but Chris could not keep both feet in bounds.
    Stram: We had located the gaps in the Green Bay pass defense but had failed to execute with sufficient precision to take advantage of them.
    Burford: Their strong safety, Brown, was not a great cover guy. We tried to take advantage of that. We did on only one play. We ran a special slot play on him, beat him relatively easy, but then the pass was out of bounds, so it didn't count. We somehow never ran that again.
    When Dawson overthrew WR Otis Taylor at the Green Bay 25, Gerald Wilson and the punting team took the field. The second best punter in the AFL (42.2 average) kicked to Donny Anderson, who unwisely took the ball on his five but returned to the 20.

    Dawson steps up in pocket behind C Wayne Frazier (66).
    The Packers moved efficiently to the first touchdown, which was scored by a player who didn't expect to get on the field. First, Pitts ran wide right for 4y. Then Starr threw to TE Marv Fleming over the middle for a first down at the 34. Bart wanted to throw again but was flushed from the pocket. But he got the ball to Pitts at the 45. Elijah continued to the KC 43. The Chiefs called timeout with 7:20 on the clock. When play resumed, Taylor took a quick pitch to the left but was dragged down for a 6y loss by Holub. Starr called a pass and, with good protection, fired to WR Carroll Dale, who made a sliding catch at the KC 37. "The Hammer" Williamson made sure the receiver didn't go any further by touching him when he was on the ground.
    Lombardi had told his quarterback when the Super Bowl game plan was finalized, I want you to pass and then pass some more. Don't be afraid to change the play when you see the right setup.
    Vince wanted to take advantage of KC's triple-stack linebacker alignment. One of the outside linebackers, Bell or Holub, would play inside the defensive end on his side to help stop the run. There was no one to help a defensive back cover a receiver, said Starr, so our plan was to isolate our wide receivers on their cornerbacks.
    McGee recalled: I didn't have much left, but there was one play I could still run and that was the quick slant. Bart knew it, so he audibled to it once we got into Kansas City territory.
    McGee lined up on the left side and cut across the middle when the ball was snapped. Buchanan escaped C Bill Curry's block and hit Starr right after he released the pigskin. The ball wasn't well thrown, but McGee, racing over the empty middle from left end with CB Willie Mitchell chasing him after using an outside technique, reached behind him with his right hand and pulled in the ball as Mitchell dived in vain. MLB Gerald Hendrick got a hand on him, but Max ripped his way out of his grasp and easily outran Williamson "like an aging gazelle" the final 20y into the end zone. Chandler booted the PAT. Packers 7 Chiefs 0 (6:04 remaining in the period)

Max McGee scores first touchdown in Super Bowl history.

 


Starr calls signals.


Starr back to pass.


McClinton's touchdown catch.


Fletcher Smith


Starr about to be tackled.


Taylor can't escape Headrick's tackle.


Dale catches in front of Mitchell.


Fleming snags pass over Robinson.


Taylor turns corner on way to second Packer touchdown.


Taylor puts on the skids.


Mercer kicks field goal.
Starr: After Don Chandler kicked the extra point ... I trotted off the field and congratulated Max.
"Hell of a catch, Max," I said.
"Made it look easy, didn't I?" he laughed.
"Max, I've got to tell you. I was surprised you caught that thing."
Max replied, "You think you were surprised. I was just sticking my hand out to keep Mitchell from picking it off. I looked back and there was the ball in my hand, so I kept running."
Like baseball coaches adept at detecting a pitcher tipping his deliveries, the Packers noticed that the Chiefs tipped their blitzes. Starr: The Chiefs may not have realized that we loved when teams blitzed. We had a very good adjusting process for dogging linebackers and safeties. Guys like McGee could read a blitz and let us know it was coming, which gave us the time to exploit it. Our line allowed me to remain in the pocket, rather than bootlegging or scrambling.
Hornung recalled McGee's enthusiasm after his touchdown catch. When he came back and sat next to me on the bench, he said, "If Bart throws me the football, I can win the car." He was talking about the new car to be awarded to the game's most valuable play. The car would go to the man who threw the pass.
Long: Max McGee is wearing my helmet. Max McGee scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history. My kids and friends sometimes say, "Hey, Long, did you play any in the first Super Bowl?" I say, "Yeah. And let me tell you another thing: My helmet scored the first touchdown in Super Bowl history!" Eventually, the equipment manager found McGee's helmet, and Long got his back.
A short time later, Curry left the game with a sprained ankle, and Ken Bowman took his place at center. Ken told Lombardi, I'll give you what I got until the shoulder goes. As luck would have it, I stayed in and played a pretty good game.
Chiefs S Johnny Robinson: We very seldom ever blitzed ... When the Packers took their halfback out of the backfield, my responsibility was with him. That took me up to the line of scrimmage and out of the middle of the field. We blitzed the weakside LB and left the middle of the field open for a slant-in with Max McGee. He caught two touchdown passes on two blitzes. The first touchdown they threw, the linebacker went right into Bart Starr, just a hair from hitting him.
Garrett ran back Chandler's kickoff 22y to the 24. But multiple flags were thrown for clipping to set KC back to the 13. Dawson didn't let the poor field position deter his play-calling. Faking a handoff, he rolled back all the way to the end zone but, finding no one open, ran out to the 21 where MLB Ray Nitschke stopped him. A quick pass sailed way over the head of Burford, who was knocked off his feet by DBs Bob Jeter and Tom Brown before the ball arrived. The pass interference penalty made it first down at the 28. 225-lb RB Curtis McClinton gained 4 before being sandwiched by DEs Willie Davis and Lionel Aldridge. Dawson rolled left and hit TE Fred Arbanas for a first down at the 49. Garrett got off the best KC run so far, spinning to the 41. A measurement revealed the ball was inches short. Trying to pass on second-and-short, Dawson ran to a first down at the 39 before Nitschke threw him back. But the drive bogged down at that point. First, LB Dave Robinson threw Garrett for a yard loss. Then Dawson threw over the head of Taylor, who was defended well by Willie Wood. Dropping straight back, Lenny hit WR Reg Carolan but Nitschke immediately tackled him 4y short of the first down. Mike Mercer tried a 40y field goal, but it was off slightly to the left with 1:05 left in the period.

Reg Caroline catches as Nitschke tackles.
Starting from the 20 after the missed field goal, Starr gave the ball to Taylor over the right side for 3y. DTs Andy Rice and Buchanan combined for the stop.
END QUARTER ONE: PACKERS 7 CHIEFS 0


Dawson passes as Davis closes in.
  • Quarter 2
    Two Starr incompletions, one to McGee defended by Williamson and one to Dale, forced a punt, DB Emmitt Thomas being credited with a 1y return to the KC 34.
    From there, the Chiefs embarked on a six-play drive to tie the game. Dawson held the Packer linebackers with play-action fakes and bought time on passing downs by moving with the pocket. On first down, Len rolled to the right and threw back across the field to Garrett who took the ball at the 35 and raced back to the right to the Green Bay 49, twisting and turning and escaping at least five would-be tacklers before Wood finally corralled him. After a 3y run by HB Bert Coan, Bert's fellow Kansas alum McClinton ran a trap up the middle like Don Perkins of the Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game. On third-and-one, Coan banged to the 37 to move the chains.

    Bert Coan runs.

    McClinton and Merz lead Coan at Jeter.
    Then came the first big play by the Chiefs. Dawson faked a handoff to the fullback and, with no pressure at all on him, looped a long one down the right side to Taylor, who had to slow up for the pass slightly and was dragged down by Brown at the seven.

    Taylor makes catch inside the 10.
    On first-and-goal, Dawson again faked a handout, dropped back, and threw left to McClinton in the end zone for the touchdown. Lenny could also have thrown to Burford running free behind Curtis. Mercer, 33-of-33 on PATs during the season, kicked the tying point. Packers 7 Chiefs 7 (10:41)

    Kansas City sideline after score.
    McClinton recalled his touchdown reception. Dawson called a "Right 55, Lead Pass," which was my play. It was something that we practiced from the first practice in summer training. It was our standard play because it was a difficult play for defenses to read. I had to get myself into the end zone and Dawson would lead me with the pass. Hopefully, the ball and my chest would arrive at a certain at the same time. It wasn't a surprising call, because we'd used it a lot during the year when we were close. I got into the end zone all right, without much trouble at all, in fact, and Dawson was right on the button. "Damn," I said to myself as I caught the ball, "touchdown." When Mercer kicked the extra point to tie it up, I jumped up and down on the sidelines and I was yelling, "We did it, we did it! Now let's do it again."
    Nitschke got angry on the PAT attempt when a KC player gave him an elbow. Ray took the opponent's action to mean that the Chiefs had come to play, and it made him mad that he was being elbowed and not doing the hitting.
    Stram: There was much more on the line than our pride and bonuses, and we felt the weight of it. We had trouble moving the ball on our first two possessions ... In the second period, Lenny settled down and started picking his way upfield with play-action passes. ... Because we had proved our ability to run up the middle, the Packers assumed we would do the same near the goal line. Dawson took the ball from center, spun, and seemed to hand off to Mike Green. Three Packer defenders pounced on Garrett, who didn't have the ball. The play-action fake had worked perfectly, freeing the linebackers. He connected with McClinton. A lot of NFL boosters up in the stands and in the press box suddenly became very nervous.
    The Pack set up shop at the 27 after Anderson's 25y return of Fletcher Smith's kickoff. Seven runs and six passes later, Green Bay retook the lead, although Packer fans thought they scored after only three plays. Following Pitts's 5y run and Taylor's 4y advance, Starr decided to go for the home run on third-and-1. Bart faked a handoff to Taylor, and that brought Williamson up hard. So the wily quarterback hit Dale all alone behind Freddie at the 40 for an easy touchdown. But a penalty for illegal motion cancelled the score and made it third-and-six.
    Starr: My favorite play, a short-yardage bomb, had worked like a charm. Well, almost a charm. The officials called an illegal procedure penalty, and we had to start all over again. We were undaunted. This drive would probably determine whether Kansas City would have the opportunity to take the lead going into the halftime. Their defense was pumped up, aggressive. They forced us into four third-and-long situations, but we responded every time with a completion.

    Pitts follows his blockers.
    Starr found McGee in front of S Robinson over the middle to the 42 to keep possession. After a KC timeout, Starr tried Dale again but, coming back for the ball, Carroll couldn't hold on to the low throw as CB Mitchell tried to cover. Bart tried Pitts out of the backfield but failed to connect. The 11-year veteran signal-caller from Alabama then converted third-and-10, hitting Dale to the KC 43, safeties Bobby Hunt and Robinson making the tackle. Taylor ran the famous Packer sweep to the left for 4. After Pitts picked up two more, Jim Simpson reported on NBC Radio that Boyd Dowler was out for the game.

    Kramer and Thurston lead Pitts on the famous Packer sweep.
    Starr threw over the center to Fleming, the 6'4" TE from Utah jumping up between Headrick and Robinson to snag the pigskin for a first down at the 27. But GB faced another third down two snaps later after Taylor gained three and Pitts was stuffed for no gain by Buchanan on a draw play. The Chiefs were showing a surprisingly staunch run defense. Starr threw to Pitts coming out of the backfield and the 6th-year back from tiny Philander Smith College (Little Rock) scampered out of bounds at the 14. From there, Taylor took a handoff around the left side, cut back, and barrelled into the end zone. On the play, McGee, lined up tight at left end, blocked LB Holub toward the inside, creating a bowling ball effect that took down two other defenders as well. LDE Chuck Hurston came across the formation and got his hands on the former LSU Tiger at the five, but Jimmy had too much forward momentum and continued into the end zone. Chandler's PAT put the Packers seven ahead again. Packers 14 Chiefs 7 (4:37)




    Taylor scores first rushing touchdown in Super Bowl history.
    Starr: Considering the adversity of having a score nullified, the quality of our opponent, and the pressure of the game, that drive was one of our best all season.
    Bengtson: It was a scene out of a 1962 newsreel. That touchdown did more than just put us ahead. It put us on the way to victory. Not only did we move steadily on the ground, but a pass to Dale in the end zone, which was nullified by a penalty, was made possible when we suckered a corner back into going for the fake to Taylor and letting Dale slip by him. Our homework was paying off. Bart established that he could pick away at the defensive backs, hitting his ends for ten- and fifteen-yarders. They were our bread-and-butter plays. They were working. We didn't have to get tricky.
    Stram: If you look at each play in that drive (for the second GB touchdown), you realize that our defense was succeeding quite well - on first and second downs. But on four third-down situations, Bart Starr had thrown perfect passes. ... We thought we were very capable offensively, but we needed help defensively. ... Chuck Hurston was a terrific player, great heart, but a small defensive end (240 lbs). We just were outmanned in that particular category.
    Garrett returned the kickoff 16y to the 26. The Chiefs made it three consecutive scoring possessions for the two teams, but this one produced only a field goal. The march started badly when Jordan and Aldridge knocked Dawson down at the 18. But Lenny came right back with a pass to Arbanas at the 30, Fred gaining five more after the catch before Nitschke tackled him. The 6'3" 240 lb tight end from Michigan State left the game with an injured shoulder. On third-and-one, Dawson connected with Taylor to move the sticks to the 41. Lenny then made it three in a row on a nice play-action throw to Burford to the GB 32 where Brown made the stop. KC declined the holding penalty on the defense. Going back to the ground, Dawson handed to Garrett who was swarmed under by Nitschke and others at the 30 before the two-minute warning stopped play.
    McClinton picked up his own fumble but lost a yard. Under pressure, Dawson flipped over the rushers to his safety valve, Garrett, who made it to the 23, 1y short of the line to gain. Stram sent in the field goal unit, and Mercer made good on the 31-yarder with little or no angle. Packers 14 Chiefs 10 (0:54)
    Smith kicked short to the 22 where Adderley picked up the ball and ducked ahead for 2y with 50 seconds left. Pitts ran around the right side to the 33 before the Packers let the clock run out.
    HALFTIME SCORE: PACKERS 14 CHIEFS 10
    		•

    Herb Adderley returns the kickoff after Chiefs' field goal.






    Dawson relaxes at halftime.


    Jerry Mays

    		 The halftime pageant rivaled the famed Orange Bowl pageants.
    • Organized by the Arizona band director Jack Lee, the show was a salute to American music titled "Super Sights and Sounds."
    • It featured men in jet packs taking off and landing at midfield just a year after the technology was featured in the James Bond movie Thunderball.
    • Lee brought in a local high school band to join with the Arizona and Grambling bands in forming a map of the United States from end zone to end zone.
      The Grambling band stole the show with their high-stepping style, energy , and jazz. Willie Davis, the Packer defensive end, was especially proud. I probably couldn't have felt more sense of pride than that my old college Grambling had its band there.
    • An unknown number of fans used the halftime break to move to better seats for the second half.

    Arizona band performs at halftime as Grambling band watches.



    Massed bands with markers for pro football franchises on U.S. map.
    Packers Locker Room
    • Many players at on the floor sucking on oranges.
    • WR Coach Bob Schnelker: At halftime, Vince always spoke. We coaches never attempted to do anything. He was in complete charge.
    • Lombardi was remarkably calm. We'll be all right; we just have to tweak a few things. According to Starr, he told the offense, We've looked at them for a half. We know what they're trying to do. So he recommended no major changes. Lombardi also told his defense to stop grabbing and start tackling. Defense, let's take control of the game. Get more pressure on Dawson and create some opportunities for the offense. ... In the first half, we adjusted to Kansas City. Now I want you to go out there and make Kansas City adjust to you.
    • Dave Robinson: We kept complaining the whole first half that the Chiefs were getting too many guys open on passes. They were running five-man patterns. There was nobody back there to block for Dawson. Vince was upset. I guess he was giving Phil Bengtson some trouble. So Phil calls our defense together and asks, "What's going on with that play that they're killing us with?" ... Yeah, Coach, we've been trying to tell you. They're running five-man patterns out there! And we don't have anything to stop them. He said, "Well, what do they do when we blitz?" We said, "Coach, we didn't blitz the whole first half." And he said, "Well, we'll correct that." Deciding to blitz was a sign of respect for the Chiefs, because Lombardi always derided the blitz as "the weapon of weaklings."
    • Nitschke was worried. He had realized early on that the Chiefs offense, despite their immense size, was actually a finesse unit like the Cowboys. And Dallas had scored 27 points in the NFL title game and threw a pass into the end zone on the final play with a chance to tie.
      Ray felt he had played uptight the first half. The pressure of the game had made him play conservatively.
    • Lombardi left his team with one final challenge. Are you the world champion Green Bay Packers? Go out on the field and give me your answer.
    Chiefs Locker Room
    • Stram's guys were buoyed by their first half performance and seemed to be a team that had learned that they could compete with the big boys. After all, they had breached Green Bay territory on all four of their first half possessions and even outgained Green Bay 181-164 and had more first downs 11-9.
      In the stands, Kansas City owner Lamar Hunt, who had started the American Football League, was "totally stoked" according to his longtime friend Buzz Kemble. Lamar was happy but nervous, proud of his team but still worried. (Michael MacCambridge)
    • Walking toward the locker room, Arbanas called to Stram: Hey, Coach. Christ, we can beat these guys! They're nothing like we thought they'd be. Dawson also thought to himself, We could win this game.
    • Stram: I honestly thought we would come back and win it. We felt we were doing the things we had to do and doing them well. I saw no reason to alter our game plan doing into the second half. He told the team they were right in the game and could take it.
    • Bell: I really felt we were very much in this game. After everyone practically crucified us, saying it is going to be a runaway, we were right in it. I guarantee you in the other locker room, Green Bay was surprised how close the game was.
    • Garrett recalled the excitement in the locker room. I remember a few of the players standing up and shouting, "Hey, let's go! We can do this." It was exciting, and we didn't feel overwhelmed.
    • However, years later, Garrett remembered the Chiefs being unusually tired at halftime. The combination of the pent up emotions and the grueling two weeks of practice had exacted a toll. We were on dead legs in the second half.
    Press Box
    • NFL employee Buddy Young predicted that old age and heat will get the Packers in the second half.
    • Tex Maule, the Sports Illustrated writer who had predicted a Packer rout, nervously paced back and forth.

    Continue to part IV - second half.
    1966 AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs