Super Bowl 1

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 3

Bob Hope at Super Bowl I

Garrett runs.

Stram dejected.

Caffey tackles Coan for 4y loss.

Holub stalks Starr.

Taylor in the open

E. J. Holub

Starr fades.

Chiefs defense swarms.

McGee catches in front of Mitchell.

Buchanan tosses Taylor after play.

McGee grabs deflected pass for his second touchdown.

Otis Taylor consoled on sideline.

Chiefs huddle at start of Q4.

Frazier protects Dawson.

Nitschke wraps up Dawson.

Mays rushes Starr.

Buchanan smothers Starr.

Taylor takes on Headrick as Hurston is blocked.

Starr hands to Pitts.

Starr rares back.

Mitchell grabs McGee.

Taylor tries to block Buchanan.

Skoronski blocks Rice for Taylor.

Mitchell tackles Dale.

Kramer blocks for Taylor.

Headrick tackles Taylor.

Taylor fights for late yardage.

Exhausted Chiefs defense leaves field after last Packer touchdown.

Taylor and Thurston leave the field after last touchdown.

Lombardi and Bengtson

Stram in Q4

Donny Anderson runs.

Paul Hornung late in game.

DT Andy Rice dejected.

Williamson helped off after the game.

Buck Buchanan leaves the field.

Arbanas congratulates Wood after the game.

NFL Commissioner Rozelle presents the Super Bowl trophy to Lombardi.

Wisconsin Governor Warren Knowles admires trophy with Lombardi.

Summerall interviews Hornung with Pitts (L) and Wood (R)

Quarter 3
The half opened in a bizarre way that left the live and TV audiences puzzled. Chandler kicked off, but the play was halted because NBC was not back from a commercial.

The reason NBC wasn't ready for the kickoff was that sideline reporter Charlie Jones's interview with loquacious comedian Bob Hope went overtime.

So Don booted again. Coan took the ball on the 13 and was knocked down by Red Mack at the 29. With a chance to stun the football world even more by taking the lead, the Chiefs instead provided the Packers with an excellent opportunity to break open the game.
Dawson rolled right but, finding four defenders covering Taylor, the lone receiver, Len evaded Robinson and ran to the 44 for a quick first down. McClinton barged straight ahead to the 47, and Garrett gained two more to make it third-and-five.

Garrett wrapped up.

Then Bengtson called for the first blitz of the afternoon, and it worked perfectly. Both LLB Robinson and RLB Lee Roy Caffey as well as DT Henry Jordan broke through a feeble double team up the middle. Throwing off his back foot just before Jordan got to him, Dawson blooped a throw toward Arbanas, who was open in the left flat as Garrett, running a pattern into the opposite flat, yelled, Don't do it! Don't do it! The pass wobbled behind Freddie to Wood at midfield. Taking the ball on the run with no one in front of him, Willie sprinted down the sideline as he picked up blockers. He swerved inside to the hashmarks to avoid traffic, then, as he cut back outside, his USC teammate Garrett, racing diagonally across the middle of the field, tackled him from behind at the five.

Dawson throws toward Fred Arbanas in the left flat.

Wood heads toward the goal line with his interception.

The Packers had blitzed on third-and-five only three times in two years.
Stram: Suddenly, the conservative Packers, who never blitzed, blitzed. Lombardi had turned into a fox. We were the deception-and-speed team. Yet the Packers had tricked us with the blitz. One play and it came apart.
Arbanas: I was man-to-man with Wood. I gave him a head fake to the inside. ... I was open to the outside, but they had a rare blitz ... It fooled Lenny and our offensive line ... Then all of a sudden I see the ball come fluttering out like a wounded duck, and I chase Willie and just see the bottoms of his shoes as he pulls away from me.
Arbanas had been blinded in one eye when attacked by thugs on a Kansas City street. Wood capitalized on that fact when covering the tight end. I knew the man was blind in one eye. So I overplayed him to his blind side.
Garrett: Len ... should have taken the sack rather than force the ball. I chased Willie down and got hm inside the five. I remember Willie laying there and yelling, "I thought I was going to score!" So he looks around and asks, "Who got me?" Someone pointed to me, and Willie screams, "Can you believe it? One Trojan tackling another Trojan?" I said, "Listen, I couldn't let you score, man!"
Dawson: We knew they were not a blitzing team. It just so happened that ... the pass that I had, if it had been to the other side, that interception would not have happened. ... I gave them seven points. And then we had to play catch up. You can't imagine how many times I wanted to have that pass back.
Starr: It was a huge turnover. Wood wasn't one of your fastest or strongest backs, but he was quick, solid, and very smart. He was an opportune player who was rarely out of position.
Lamar Hunt Jr. had heard his father curse just a few times in his life. One of those was a "Damn" when Wood picked off the pass. My dad had an entourage of friends that were there sitting and watching the game. That play really took the wind out of everybody's sails.

It took only one play for the Packers to reach the end zone. Pitts took a handoff, escaped the grasp of Buchanan, and cut through a gaping hole at left tackle created by the combined blocking of Fleming, Skoronski, and Thurston. Packers 21 Chiefs 10 (12:33)

Pitts scores Packers' third touchdown.

Starr on his call after the interception: It was an ideal opportunity to cross up the Chiefs' defense. I figured they'd be looking for Jimmy Taylor again, and they were. Elijah Pitts took the handoff and scored easily. The game, for all intents and purposes, was over.
Jerry Kramer noticed that the Chief defensive tackle on the extra point lined up against me with all the strength of a feather duster. He leaned on me with no force and let out a groan.

So far, Kansas City had gained 201y on 32 plays. But, leading by 11, the Packer defense could ignore Dawson's run fakes and be much more aggressive.

The Chiefs would have six possessions the rest of the way and punt all six times. They would gain only five first downs and a mere 38y in 25 plays.
OT Jim Tyrer: It was over then. They wouldn't respect our run again. Our play fakes were useless. They knew we had to pass, and they just flew to the quarterback.
Stram: Hindsight analysis had the Packers timing their blitz for the third quarter to set us off balance. Maybe so, but again a statement like this is deceptive since we were prepared to handle the blitz. Many AFL teams, particularly the Boston Patriots ..., used the blitz extensively as a defensive weapon, so our players knew how to protect against it.

Coan got a nice return to the 30. Lenny underthrew Taylor at the 30, then connected with Lionel to the 41, where the 6'2" second-year man from Prairie View fumbled after being clotheslined by Adderley but recovered himself for a first down. Playing a fine game, Aldridge downed McClinton at the 45. Dawson threw to Coan to midfield, where Wood made the tackle. On third-and-one, Coan swept left but was met by Caffey for a loss of four. Wilson's punt was downed at the 25.

Dawson calls signals.

Stram: After the game a number of reporters looked on that interception by Willie Wood as the key play on which the game turned. That interception certainly didn't improve our chances of winning, but perhaps a more critical play came in the following series of downs. We continued to move the ball. Dawson completed a pass to Taylor for a first down. Curtis McClinton gained four yards through the middle, and Bert Coan caught a pass on the 50-yard line that missed being a first down by only one yard. Then with third-and-one, Coan started around left end, but Lee Roy Caffey shrugged off a block and dropped him for a 4y loss. Instead of our cutting seven, or at least three, points off our deficit on that drive, we had to punt.

Green Bay ran its second offensive play of the half, an 11y strike to Pitts who broke several tackles before Williamson dumped him. MLB Headrick limped off, replaced by Smokey Stover. Unable to find a receiver, Starr was snowed under at the 29 by Holub and Buchanan. Starr hit McGee just before Max stepped out at the 44 as Mitchell covered in vain.

Starr throws an out to McGee.

Needing two, Taylor was hit by Headrick from behind and fell just short of the first down. So Chandler kicked to Garrett, who ran from the 19 to the 27.

Burford: A lot of people got on our defender Willie Mitchell's case, and it really wasn't Willie's fault as much as Willie was doing what he was supposed to be doing, but the inside wasn't taken away. ... Willie took a lot of abuse he probably didn't deserve.
Stram: On most plays, our players covered their men as anticipated. But Bart Starr that day possessed an uncanny ability to hit his receivers right on the numbers at the instant they made their break. There is no way to defend against a perfectly thrown ball.

With the Packers blitzing for the third time this half, Dawson rolled left but overthrew Burford at the 42. Lenny tried another play-action pass, but Caffey dumped him at the 14. A holding penalty on KC was refused. What do you call on third-and-23? Dawson rolled left but, instead of throwing the ball away, retreated all the way to the two where Jordan, Davis, and Kostelnik smothered him. Wilson punted from the back of the end zone to Anderson, who was hit at the 41 by Aaron Brown and Holub as flags flew. Clipping put the ball at the GB 44 with 6:18 left.

L: Headrick flies over Pitts. R: Wilson punts from end zone.

Watching the KC offense from the sidelines, Williamson thought they were not using their best receiver. Nobody was thinking. Hell, Adderley was playing ten to twelve yards off Otis Taylor, and Dawson wasn't throwing to Otis, not at all. That's how we got to the Super Bowl in the first place - Dawson throwing to Otis. Otis should have been the star of the game because he was the best receiver on the field. He made one catch in the first half that was out of this world, man. Adderley wasn't taking any chances with him. He knew that once Otis got behind him, it was all over. But Otis, man, he was in the doghouse to start with. He blew the flight from Kansas City and flew out on his own the same night. He made it to practice on time, but ol' Stram put it to him. Fined him a couple hundred. When a guy's in the coach's doghouse, a lot of the other guys won't have anything to do with him, like he's carrying the plague or something.

Starr & Company took advantage of the good field position to extend the lead. However, the series started poorly when Holub roared through the middle and chased down Pitts for a loss of two. Starr then threw down the middle to McGee to the KC 48. LSU's Robinson stopped Tulane's McGee.

Max McGee had caught only four passes the entire season for Green Bay. He had now matched that total in the Super Bowl and would grab three more before the afternoon was over. His 138y against KC would exceed his regular season total by 47. His two Super Bowl touchdowns would double his output during twelve regular season games.

Taylor got the first down over the left side at the 43. Starr targeted Dale, who fell down at the 27 as the ball sailed by. Williamson backed off Dale to avoid defensive interference. Taylor took a swing pass but lost a yard on a fine play by Bell. Facing third-and-11 with the lights now on in the Coliseum, Starr found McGee among Bell, Williamson, and Hunt at the 33. Max continued to the 28. first down. Taylor tried the center of the line, but Buchanan stood him up and, after the whistle, threw him back toward his huddle as the crowd booed but no flag fluttered. Several Packers confronted Buchanan, but referee Schachter stepped in and defused the situation.

Fred Arbanas: I remember Buck picking up Jim Taylor and wheeling him around in the air like a little doll.
Asked afterward about what went on, Taylor played it coy. That big devil is too big to tangle with.

On second-and-two, Jimmy stuttered at the line, then darted to the 21 where Headrick made the stop. Carrying for the third straight play, Taylor started left and, behind a good block, broke two tackles to the 15 where Bell made another tackle but too late to prevent the first down. Starr then called McGee's number again. After faking a handoff, the Packer quarterback threw to McGee heading for the goal posts. The ball bounced off Max's hand, but he grabbed it back in the end zone. Packers 28 Chiefs 10 (0:51)

Starr: On a first-down play from their 13, I fired a perfect strike in the end zone. This time, Max nearly dropped the easy pass, bobbling it for a few strides before hauling it in.
It was McGee's second touchdown catch of the day on a deflection. Afterward, Max explained: The safety man hit me as I came across. It's hard to catch the ball clean when you're stumbling.
Chiefs defensive assistant Tom Bettis, a former linebacker with the Packers, on McGee's performance: When you look at the film, you wonder how he caught the ball (on the first touchdown). Max was a decent route runner, and he had decent speed. He knew how to work people. But those catches were out of his ass. That's the way it was. Those things happen. That's part of the game.

Coan returned the kickoff up the left side 15y to the 17. On the final play of the period, McClinton gained a yard, Jordan making the tackle. Kansas City ended the period with a paltry 12y of total offense.
END OF PERIOD 3: PACKERS 28 CHIEFS 10

Stram: We now needed to score three more times to win and only had 15 minutes to do so. To conserve time, we stopped shifting. We centered the ball on quick counts. We abandoned our running game and with it the play-action passes that had worked so well during the first half.

Quarter 4
Dawson tried to connect with McClinton, but Wood nearly intercepted. Then Adderley almost got the pick on the third down throw to Burford. Anderson took Wilson's low driving kick at the GB 42 and took it back 4y.

Wood nearly intercepts pass to McClinton.

Badly needing a turnover to get back in the game, the Chiefs got one on the second snap of the series. After Taylor picked up four to midfield, Starr faked a handoff and threw deep to McGee, who had a step on Mitchell. But the ball was underthrown, and Willie made a diving interception at the 11.

It was Starr's first interception in 174 passes.

With enough time to pick out his fourth receiver, Dawson looped the ball to McClinton who made a great catch on his tiptoes lunging forward to the 38. Len straightened up with the snap and threw quickly to Taylor. Adderley got a hand on Otis's ankle at the 43. Seeing the Packer secondary playing back to prevent the long strike, Len threw another short one to Burford at the GB 46. With a new set of downs, Dawson rolled right and spotted Taylor behind Adderley. But Otis couldn't reach the pass in the end zone. It wouldn't have counted anyway as KC was penalized 5y for illegal procedure. Then the Chiefs went back even further on the next play when Davis rolled Dawson down at the 38.

Davis had come out for the second half with a different attitude. There was a feeling that, if we didn't play with some caution in the first half, Kansas City would get a couple of plays that would work big time. And then all at once we'd have a tiger by the tail! That's how Coach Lombardi described it. The one reason he thought it best to avoid the tiger by the tail was to play conservative in the first half. I knew I had not attacked the guy in front of me with the best efforts I could put in the pass rush. And then second half, all at once I'm saying, "Hey, buddy, it's over, because now I'm coming!" We were much looser in the second half. I was playing against Dave Hill, the Kansas City right tackle. And by the second half I said to myself, "Now, Dave Hill, you're going to have to cope with everything I can do. That second half I was in charge. ... They were spaced wider than we thought they would be. If you wanted to get any kind of inside rush, you had to line up head up on your man. In the second half, we did that and spread the LBs a little wider to contain Dawson. I figured, forget Kansas City and the Super Bowl and do what you do best!

Len tried Taylor on a down and out, but Adderley stepped in front of Otis and knocked down the pass at the GB 46. Then it was big rookie Bob Brown's turn to get a hand on an aerial, this one a middle screen that Dawson tried to lob to Garrett but couldn't get over the leaping 6'5" defensive tackle. So Wilson punted high and deep into the end zone.

Robinson makes adjustments in the defense.

Perhaps to get back at Mitchell after his interception, Starr had Dale run a square-out pattern that left Willie straddle-legged. The defensive back wrestled Carroll out of bounds at the 44. Bart kept fishing in the same pond, firing to McGee who caught the ball with Mitchell climbing his back. Willie rode Max about 10y before finally wrestling him down at the 18 with 10:05 left. After Taylor gained less than a yard, Starr threw left to Dale, but Mitchell knocked the ball down at the 11. Pitts had a hole for a moment, but Robinson knifed him down at the five. First and Goal.

Headrick grabs leaping Taylor.

Pitts runs for first down at the five.

The Chiefs dug in and made the Packers work for it, but the touchdown came on the third snap. First, Taylor gained 2y straight ahead, then swept wide to the 1' line as Robinson tackled his former LSU teammate.

Taylor sweeps to the one.

On third-and-goal, Pitts was hit at the line of scrimmage but slid into the end zone over the left side. Packers 35 Chiefs 10 (6:35)

Pitts scores the final Packer touchdown.

Coan returned the kick 19y to the 20. Pete Beathard took over at quarterback. The USC product started sharply with a completion to Burford to the 42, Jeter making the tackle. Unable to find a receiver, Pete ran all the way to the GB 44 where Wood and Jeter ran him out of bounds. Then things started to go wrong. First, Beathard overthrew Garrett at the 40. Following an illegal procedure penalty, Aldridge and Bob Brown swarmed the third-year quarterback at the KC 39. On third down, Pete got off a long throw to Burford that was tapped away at the last moment by Jeter with 4:39 left. Wood fair caught Wilson's punt at the 18.

Stram: Toward the end of the contest, I sent in backup QB Pete Beathard, hoping that perhaps he could scramble for some first downs and maybe turn the game around, but you never get anything easy from the Green Bay Packers - especially not when they have a lead.
Pete Beathard's older brother, Bobby, was the Chiefs West Coast scout at the time of Super Bowl I and would later serve as general manager for the Redskins and Chargers. Green Bay reminded me of the later Dolphins teams, so solid, so well coached. They never made mistakes, and it was hard to find a weakness.

Lombardi inserted a new backfield: QB Zeke Bratkowski, HB Donnie Anderson, and FB Jim Grabowski. WR Bob Long finally got a chance to play too. Anderson ran around the left side to the 32 where he was hit from behind by Holub, who was living up to his reputation as one of the best linebackers in all of football. Grabowski nearly lost the next handoff and was wrestled down by Buchanan at the line of scrimmage. Then came a play that had people talking afterward as much as any of the scoring plays. Anderson went around the right side following pulling G Gale Gillingham. Williamson came up and confronted the blocker, but Gale just ran over him, his knee hitting The Hammer in the head and knocking his helmet off. Anderson fell over both of them as Headrick grabbed him from behind. Everyone got up except Fred. A stretcher was brought out, and Williamson was carted off to polite applause.

Fred Williamson injured.

"The Hammer" carted off.

Instead of breaking Packer bones, The Hammer had broken his arm. Standing near a prone Williamson, Fuzzy Thurston hummed a few bars of "If I Had a Hammer." Some Packers on the field yelled, Take that, Hammer! Take that, Hammer!
Williamson described the play this way. Early in the last quarter, I was aching for some action. Ol' Lombardi, he didn't send anything my way all day. I put one hammer to Dale and that was it. So I saw this Packer sweep coming with Anderson carrying, and I said to myself, "Get that muthah." This kid Gillingham was leading the sweep and I was overanxious, emotional, and I made a big mistake. I went into him, head first, and I caught his knee right on the forehead. The next thing I knew I was lying on a stretcher on the sidelines looking up at all that blue. I asked somebody, "What the hell happened? Did I make the tackle?" And he said, "You got knocked out cold," Man, was I embarrassed.
Gillingham: It was funny as hell. Nobody was out to get Williamson, nobody was mad at him at all. In fact, we thought the guy was pretty funny. But it was ironic seeing him getting carried off the field. I could imagine everybody in the stands saying, "Well, there goes The Hammer, the big mouth. The Packers got him." That's wasn't the case at all. The Packers didn't get him. He got himself. ... I pulled out to lead the sweep ... I saw Williamson coming at me like a wild man and I knew he was going to try to take me out of the play, leaving Anderson unprotected for somebody else. To my surprise, he came barreling at me real low and I simply picked my knee up a little, and he caught it flush in the head. Then Anderson went over the top and all three of us just lay there for a while. Donny and I got up slowly, and Williamson didn't get up at all. He had a lot of momentum going for him, because my knee hurt like hell after, and Donny had to leave the game to get his bearings. ... It's ironic. He was supposed to be the one knocking everybody out, and he's the one who is knocked out.
When the Packer sideline realized a Chief was down after the play, a buzz started. Who was it? Who got hit? Wood yelled out, That's The Hammer. They just nailed The Hammer!
Anderson: I did not anticipate getting to play, but some of the young guys like me got to play mid-third quarter ... I had a collision with "The Hammer." ... If you look at some of the old film, Willie Wood on the sideline said, "The Hammer is out! The Hammer is out! Who did it?" And Max McGee said, "Anderson. I think Anderson hit him with his wallet." The reference was to Donny's record $600,000 contract that resulted from the competition for draft choices between the two leagues and caused resentment among the veteran players, especially Jim Taylor, who left the Packers after the '66 season.

On third-and-eight, Bratkowski threw wide of Dale. Anderson left-footed the punt dead on the 22 with 2:22 left.
Moving with the pocket the way Dawson did, Beathard rolled right and threw deep to Otis Taylor who couldn't catch up to the ball as he collided with Adderley. After the two-minute warning break, Beathard ducked under onrushing DT Jim Weatherwax but fell down for a loss of six. Then Pete overthrew Burford at the sideline. Wilson boomed his seventh punt, a line drive to Wood at the GB 31. Willie lost four on the return and a clipping flag moved the ball to the 13.

Hornung: Late in the game, Lombardi came up to me on the sideline and asked if I wanted to go in for a few plays. He wanted me to be able to say I had played in the first Super Bowl, but I said no. I was afraid that if I went in, I'd get clotheslined and never play again. So I didn't play in the game, but I did get a winner's ring. After the game ... I saw Bob Rosburg, and he was happy as hell.

Grabowski met Buchanan head-on at the 15. Anderson was hit behind the line but broke loose behind Forrest Gregg's block to the 26 where he went out of bounds. That created one more play - an Anderson 4y run around left end where Holub made his sixth and final solo tackle of the contest.
The Chiefs came to the Packers to congratulate them as the final seconds ticked off. Gregg and Kramer hoisted Lombardi on their shoulders.
FINAL SCORE: PACKERS 35 CHIEFS 10

As the Packers jogged up the Coliseum tunnel to the dressing room, some shouted, Buffalo! Buffalo! This referred to Stram's reply to a request during the week to compare Green Bay's defense to one of the AFL defenses. They remind me of Buffalo, said Stram. The Packers had taken the answer as an insult.

The MVP award went to Bart Starr. When he received the award, Bart said: I accept this on behalf of the other 39 members of the Green Bay Packers. It may sound corny to some, and I don't care if it does: At Green Bay we eat, cry, and live as forty people. Any award or acclaim for an individual comes from the efforts of all forty players plus the coaches and it's in that spirit that I receive this honor.

Starr later wrote that the award didn't mean as much to him as what Lombardi said after the Super Bowl. I don't know where the story began that Bart couldn't throw the long pass. That's ridiculous ... he can throw with anyone. He's a fine quarterback, and I'm delighted that he's finally getting the recognition he has long deserved.
Hornung had a different take on the MVP award. Max should have been named player of the game. I told Bart that a hundred times, and he agreed with me. That was the greatest performance by a guy who was out of shape. If Max had not been such a great athlete, he would never have done what he did.

Final statistics:

First downs: Packers 21 Chiefs 17
Rushing: Packers 34-133 Chiefs 19-72
Passing: Packers 24-16-1/228 Chiefs 32-17-1/167
Return yardage: Packers 8-138 Chiefs 10-149
Fumbles-Lost: Packers 1-0 Chiefs 1-0
Penalties: Packers 4-40 Chiefs 4-26
Punting average: Packers 4-43.3 Chiefs 7-45.3

Watch highlights of the game.

Postgame

Green Bay Locker Room

In the relatively quiet Green Bay locker room, Lombardi went around and gave everyone a bear hug and a fierce handshake. That was the extent of the celebration, recalled Skoronski. But deep down inside, where it really counted, the joy was indescribable. It's a moment I'll never be able to recapture for as long as I live.
The competition between CBS and NBC continued in the locker rooms. Pat Summerall of CBS: During the postgame show, one of the concessions CBS had to make was to let the NBC reporter, George Ratterman, in the winners' locker room. And we had to let him ask one question, so I handed him the microphone. One of the secrets anytime you're doing a postgame show is, don't let go of the microphone. When I handed it to him, Bob Dailey yelled at me, "Get that microphone out of his hands! Get it in your hand!" The lights were hot, and I had on a coat and tie. ... Jim Taylor looked at me and said, "Man, you're sweating like you played instead of us." And he had a can of Coca-Cola. Bob Dailey said to me, "We're not giving away free commercials. Get rid of that can of Coke." I wasn't about to tell Jim Taylor he couldn't drink that. I couldn't think of what to do. And Bob told me, "Coming to you in 15 seconds. Get rid of that Coke." About that time, Jim Taylor said, "You want some of this?" So I took it. I had solved my problem. I had the Coca-Cola can. But I didn't want to insult him, so I took a big slug of it. It was straight whiskey.
Vince started his press conference with the game ball in his hands. The players gave it to me. He couldn't resist poking a little fun at the press. It's the NFL ball. It catches better and kicks a little better than the AFL ball.
Lombardi also enjoyed a moment of levity when asked, And now what, Coach? What now? he answered with a smile. We'll now play Alabama to see who's No. 1." Then he got serious. He planned to go to New York where his father was ill. Then he would check himself into a Green Bay hospital for a complete physical check-up. I feel a little tired, but fine. Fact is, I'm already thinking of 1967. That last sentence was aimed at quieting the rumors that he was about to retire.
Asked about the loss of Dowler, Vince explained, We had planned to hit our weak side end, regardless of who was playing. You notice we hit Dale, too, when he played that side. They were stacked against our running, so we took advantage of it. We passed.
We went into this game not knowing exactly what we might do. We went in deciding to feel our way because we knew so little about them. Bart called a great game, but that's nothing new.
On McGee: What do you say about a guy like that? He was great. This was one of his finest games.
On Hornung: He could have played, and if we had really needed him, he would have. His neck still bothers him, though, and we weren't inclined to take a chance.
I can't say enough for these men - all of them. They're a team. I'm proud of them.
I think their defense hurt them. The Kansas City secondary played very loose. They seemed to be daring us to throw against them. We were glad to accommodate them.
The Chiefs were a good team, but they lacked our depth. We wore them down. We had a little more personnel than they.
We played better in the second half, but we really didn't do anything differAlabamaent. We just played better - more aggressively.
As reporters continued to press him for an assessment of the AFL champs, Vince said, They've got great speed. Pressed further, he added, I don't think they are as good as the top teams in the National Football League. They're a good team with fine speed, but I'd have to say NFL football is tougher. Dallas is a better team, and so are several others. That's what you've wanted me to say–now I've said it. But I don't want to get into that kind of comparison.
Lombardi regretted the remark. He later told a friend, I came off as an ungracious winner, and it was lousy.
Starr: Lombardi's response was simply impulsive. Later, after he had the chance to reflect and review the game films, he was more gracious. Coach Lombardi and I attended a couple of post-Super Bowl banquets together, and he was highly complimentary of the Chiefs. The entire Packer team felt the same way. Kansas City had an excellent team and many of us believed that they would be good enough to win it all after their team matured a little. ... I can tell you if anyone took them lightly, Kansas City would have beaten them.
McGee told the press, Sayonara. It's a great game to quit on, and I quit! (But Max played one more year for Lombardi, who intended to add McGee to his coaching staff if he didn't make the team.) When asked if he had thanked Dowler for being hurt and letting him play, Max answered: Look, if Boyd had been in there, I'm sure he would have had a big day too. We knew we could work on them on the weak side all day. That was our game plan, and it worked. I don't want to knock anybody, but we knew that their corner men were the ones we could beat. In our league, the defenses are a little sounder, especially as far as the deep backs are concerned. They don't give you the quick "in" pattern in the NFL. Max ended humorously. You guys will have to let me go now. Hornung is getting married Wednesday, and I've got to start getting dressed. I'm going on the honeymoon.
Bengtson was asked if the defensive game plan had been to play it cool until KC's capabilities had been figured out. Not at all. We wanted to go after them right away. I guess maybe we blitzed them more than usual - maybe a half dozen times, all told. Once we got aggressive, things went much better.
After most of the crowd left the dressing room, Steve Sabol asked Lombardi for a brief interview for NFL films. He found the coach struggling to remove his tie. The man for whom the Super Bowl trophy would eventually be named had tied a Windsor knot so tight he could not undo it and had to ask the equipment manager for a pair of scissors to cut it loose.

Kansas City Locker Room

The atmosphere in the dressing room was subdued. The one exception was Buchanan. I'm sorry, this team is not 35-10 better than us. I know it. I want to play them right now.
Stram: I thought Starr did a fabulous job of coming up with the third down play. I think he made seven out of nine in the first half and five out of seven in the second, which is an unbelievable average.
Late in his news conference, Hank was taken aback when informed of Lombardi's assessment of the Chiefs as not as good as the top teams in the NFL. Did Vince really say we weren't that good? That we couldn't play at that level? Vince is a friend. Did he really say that?
After the visitors left the KC dressing room, Stram looked for his two sons. Worried they had gotten lost in the labyrinth under the Coliseum, he finally spotted them. They were coming out of the Packers' locker room, loaded down with Green Bay pennants, autographed programs, a game jersey, and even a ball. While the boys were in the Packers locker room, Lombardi patted Henry Jr. on the head and said, Tell your dad his team played a good game.
Dawson: We moved the ball real well, especially on our play action passes, but I made a couple of mistakes. Let's face it. Their offense then took the ball and drove it down our throats.
One of the secondary members said, Bart picks a weak spot and hits its better than any quarterback I ever saw. He really picked our pass defense to pieces. Every time they had third and long yardage, he made it. You can’t beat that.
Co-captain Jerry Mays: It hurts more than I thought it would. It's bad enough when you let yourself down, but when you let other people down, too, it sure hurts. All the talking's over now. As Hank says, they beat us on the grass. They beat us physically, and they used a little witchcraft on us. I mean they shook our poise some with that interception. They're a great ball club, the best we've played. What takes it out of you is when Starr stands back there and hits those those third down passes.
Holub gave credit to the Packers but also made a prophecy. I have to say they're the best. They deserve to be. But we'll be back.
Garrett had similar sentiments. The Packers aren't superhuman. We made mistakes, but we'll be back. Mike felt the Chiefs were strong enough to win the AFL title again for the next two or three years. Then we'll be happy to take on the Packers again.
McClinton: I was overwhelmed by the feeling that there would never be another chance, that there would never be another Super Bowl game or another football season. It was like being on a deathbed. Everything you've accomplished up to that point didn't mean a damn thing anymore. Never before had I felt like such a loser. There was no way we could tell ourselves we played a fine game; we hadn't. The Packers exposed our weaknesses to the world. They picked apart our defense, they stopped our offense, they demoralized us. There was nothing in this game that indicated it could have gone either way. Leaving the stadium that night, I could not convince myself that there would be another season, another big game, another Super Bowl. The despair of it all blighted my senses.
Williamson: I was home in California wiping out the memories, and I was thinking that maybe I wanted to retire from football. Everybody was dumping the loss on me. They were saying, "If Williamson had kept his mouth shut, maybe we would have won." ... I was the perfect fall guy. But nobody - man, nobody - came around and told the real story. They figured Fred Williamson was a perfect dumping ground, so let's dump the whole thing on him ...
Robinson recalled: It was mortifying. We were insulted by that "Mickey Mouse League" stuff, and now we couldn't even answer. We lost like most of the critics said we would. We could only pray we'd get another chance.

Participants in Super Bowl 1 who are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
Packers: Coach Vince Lombardi, Herb Adderley, Willie Davis, Forrest Gregg, Paul Hornung, Henry Jordan, Ray Nitschke, Dave Robinson, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Willie Wood
Chiefs: Owner Lamar Hunt, Coach Hank Stram, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Len Dawson, Emmitt Thomas

The Packers' charter flight home to Green Bay was delayed by fog and smog.

So a victory party was hastily arranged Sunday night at the Stardust hotel near the airport.
Starr told of an encounter between Lombardi and McGee at the party.
Lombardi was smiling and couldn't help getting in a little jab at Max.
"McGee," he said, "I can't figure you out."
"How's that, Coach?"
"I've been coaching you for eight years, and I've never seen anyone like you. You're a hell of a receiver, but you drive me nuts. You make a circus catch of a pass thrown three feet behind you, then you turn around and drop one that hits you right in the numbers."
Max paused for a moment, then put his arm around me (Starr) and smiled.
"Coach," he said, "it's easy to explain. I haven't had much practice catching ones thrown right to me."
Max never told Lombardi that he had snuck out the night before Super Bowl 1. Until he died, I never talked about it because I didn't want him to know. I wanted him to know that he always had control of his boys. Sometimes I think the emphasis of sneaking out is a little overrated. The next day don't bother you. It's the day after that.
Lombardi stayed in Los Angeles to attend the NFL owners meeting the next morning. When Vince walked into the meeting, he was greeted with a standing ovation.
Years later, Commissioner Pete Rozelle recalled his feelings about the first Super Bowl. I was pleased that it was a close game for more than a half. I think we all feared that it might be a one-sided blowout. I was very happy with the 35-10 result.

1966 Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers

References: They're Playing My Game, Hank Stram with Lou Sahadi (1986)
Starr: My Life in Football, Bart Starr with Murray Olderman (1987)
The Whole Ten Yards, Frank Gifford and Harry Waters (1993)
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, David Maraniss (1999)
Nitschke, Edward Gruver (2002)
Magnificent Seven: The Championship Games That Built the Lombardi Dynasty, Bud Lea (2002)
Going Long: The Wild 10-Year Saga of the Renegade American Football League in the Words of Those Who Lived It, Jeff Miller (2003)
Bart Starr: When Leadership Mattered, David Claerbaut (2004)
America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation, Michael MacCambridge (2004)
Commissioner: The Legacy of Pete Rozelle, John A. Fortunato (2006)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Kansas City Chiefs, Bill Althaus (2007)
The Birth of the New NFL: How the 1966 NFL/AFL Merger Transformed Pro Football, Larry Felser (2008)
The Ultimate Super Bowl Book, Bob McGinn (2009)
America's Quarterback: Bart Starr and the Rise of the National Football League, Keith Dunnavant (2011)
Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports, Michael MacCambridge (2012)
When It Was Just a Game: Remebering the First Super Bowl, Harvey Frommer (2015)
The Super Bowl: The First Fifty Years of America's Greatest Game, David Fischer (2015)
50 Years, 50 Moments: The Most Unforgettable Plays in Super Bowl History, Jerry Rice and Randy O. Williams
(2015)
Super Bowl Gold: 50 Years of the Big Game, Sports Illustrated (2015)