• The Packers throttled the Rams 28-7 in the first round of the playoffs while the Cowboys belted the Browns 52-14.
• With the better record (9-4-1 to 9-5), Green Bay hosted Dallas for the NFL title. The Packers prevailed 21-17 in "The Ice Bowl," one of the greatest games every played. The Packers thus became the first team in NFL history to win three straight championships.
• Having just played the toughest game in football history, the Packers welcomed the two week delay to prepare for the Super Bowl.
  Starr recalled: The Ice Bowl was very draining. But we had a job to finish in the Su­per Bowl. We felt a tremendous responsibility. ... Unlike the enthusiasm we'd brought to our workouts in Santa Barbara the year before, we really had to work at getting "up" for what was now the biggest game of the season.

• The Packers finished third in the league in points allowed with 209, behind only the Rams (196) and Colts (198).
• The defense was anchored by a trio that Dallas coach Tom Landry called maybe the best set of linebackers ever to play football - Ray Nitschke in the middle with Dave Robinson and Lee Roy Caffey on the outside.
• Green Bay's vaunted offensive line had two changes. C Bill Curry was placed on the expansion list and taken by the Saints, who immediately traded him to Balti­more. That made room for Ken Bowman to take over in the middle of the line. And Gale Gillingham, the 13th overall pick in the 1966 draft, beat out 10-year veteran Fuzzy Thurston at the LG spot.
  Far from becoming disgruntled, Thurston spent his time cheering his teammates and mentoring Gillingham. Fuzzy was one of nine members of the 1967 Packers who had been with the club since Lombardi's first season in 1959. The others were: Boyd Dowler, Forrest Gregg, Henry Jordan, Jerry Kramer, Max McGee, Ray Nitschke, Bob Skoronski, and Bart Starr.
• The main difference from 1966 lay in the backfield where high-priced second-year players Donny Anderson and Jim Grabowski replaced Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor.
  Both Hornung and Taylor were signed by the Saints although Paul never played a down in New Orleans because of a career-ending shoulder injury.
  Six-year veteran Elijah Pitts started the season at HB, but an injury in Game 8 ended his season and gave Anderson the starting job.
  Grabowski had also fallen prey to the injury bug in Game 9 and needed a knee operation. He replaced by journeyman Chuck Mercein and Ben Wilson.
• Lombardi added speed to the backfield when he drafted speedy Travis Williams in the 4th round from Arizona State. All the rookie did was set an NFL record by re­turning four kickoffs 85y or more for TDs with the longest being 101y. He averaged an incredible 41.1y per return.

• Second-year coach John Rauch's club lost only one game, to the Jets in New York 27-14 in Week 4. Their 13-1 record put them four games ahead of Kansas City and 4.5 in front of the Houston Oilers, champions of the East Division. Rauch earned AFL Coach of the Year honors.
• The Raiders' prolific offense put more than 30 points on the board eight times, scored more than 40 five times, and topped the 50 mark twice. The Silver and Black score 60 more points than second-place Chiefs' 408.
• Oakland wasn't bad on defense either, giving up just 233, second fewest after Houston's 199.
• 40-year-old George Blanda joined the Raiders from Houston that year as a PK and backup QB. While he threw only 38 passes, the Ancient One booted 20-of-30 FGs for a league-leading 66.7%. He also made 56 of 57 EPs, both tops in the AFL.

Daryle Lamonica quarterbacked the offense.

• Acquired for the '67 season via a trade with Buffalo, where he'd started just four games in four seasons, Lamonica threw for 3,228y and a league-high 30 TDs. How­ever, his 4.7 INT % also led the circuit. His great year was rewarded with the MVP trophy for the AFL.
  Rauch on Lamonica joining the Raiders: It was an amazing thing. Everything fell into place. The Raiders' system basically came from Sid Gillman and the San Diego Chargers that Al brought in ... Lamonica could throw the ball 50, 60 yards on a straight line, and he was pretty accurate.
  Veteran backup QB Cotton Davidson and QB-K George Blanda both helped Dar­ryle as well.
• Daryle's favorite target was not a WR or TE but rather FB Hewritt Dixon, who hauled in 59 balls, 19 more than third-year WR Fred Biletnikoff, who topped the team in receiving yardage with 876. Far from the speediest receiver, the former Florida State wideout ran precise patterns and almost never missed a ball thrown his way.
• SE Bill Miller snagged 38 passes for 537y while Billy Cannon had 32 receptions for 629y.
  Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner from LSU, successfully switched to TE after a severe knee injury in 1962 prompted his move from the backfield.
• Dixon contributed 559y on the ground, second to Clem Daniels' 575. FB Pete Ban­aszak added 376 more. Daniels, however, had been injured in Game 9 and would not participate in the Super Bowl.
  Oakland sometimes used Dixon, a converted TE, on deep pass patterns.
• The Raiders offense literally centered around Jim Otto, the only man to make every AFL All-Star team. But "double oh" got help from rookie G Gene Upshaw.
  Otto was among the early wave of players who developed strength in the weight room. He bulked upl from 205 in college to 255. Cowboys Coach Tom Landry ob­served, The Raiders were the forerunners stressing physical strength up front, and that emphasis has proved out.
  Jim: 'Cause I grew up in Wisconsin, Super Bowl II was a game that I wanted to win the worst way.

MLB Dan Conners anchored the "Eleven Angry Men" defense.

• The angriest of the bunch was gigantic DE Ben Davidson (6'8", 270 lb). Like "The Hammer" Williamson in '66, Ben had a reputation for playing on the edges of the rules if not downright violating them. However, unlike Williamson, Davidson took care to say nothing to irritate the Packers.
  Big Ben spent his rookie year with the Packers in 1961 playing mostly on special teams. He was traded to the Redskins and played in Washington in '62 and '63 before being released and signing with the Raiders for the '64 campaign. Starr remembered Davidson as a gentle man with a gruff voice.
  He seemed to enjoy his reputaion. They say I'm a wild man, an animal, a bloodthir­sty savage. They say I broke Joe Namath's cheekbone for no reason and that I enjoy hurting people. Now, every time they even suspect me of being too rough, they nail me with a 15-yard penalty. ... All this nonsense about intimidating QBs is just that - nonsense. You can't intimidate a QB and make him afraid of you. ... I think they feel the pressure, but they don't shake in their shoes out of fear.
• Their 67 sacks still stands as a club record.
• The Raiders often deployed a five-man front, with a LB standing next to down linemen. The scheme was the idea of LB Coach John Madden.
  Bart Starr was impressed by the Raiders D. They've been impressive in the films we've looked at. We can see that in the defense, which I watch. They're a good team. Their linebackers support their linemen, they get help from the secondary on passes, and the secondary covers real well.

Almost all the talent on the Raiders had been put in place by Managing General Partner Al Davis.

• He first came to Oakland as head coach and general manager in 1963 from the San Diego Chargers.
• His resume included a year as Commissioner of the American Football League. Before leaving the Raiders, Al turned the reins over to Rauch.
• During his tenure as head of the AFL, the owners, using the money from their lucrative TV deal with NBC, stepped up their effort to sign draft choices away from the NFL.
• The aggressive approach pushed the NFL to the bargaining table and resulted in the merger of the two leagues.
• Davis returned to Oakland as part owner and general manager.
• Happy to be the underdog, Al wanted nothing more than to beat the mighty Pack­ers. Imagine, the lil' ol' Raiders on the same field with the Green Bay Packers. Imagine.

Television sportscaster Hal Scott said Monday night he had learned that Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers, planned to retire from coaching after this season but keep his post as general manager.
Scott said on two sports shows that Lombardi would step down as coach and that his personal choice of a successor is his assistant, Phil Bengtson.
"Lombardi already has asked to be relieved of the last year of his coaching contract," Scott said. "But I'm sure he isn't going to announce anything until after the Super bowl. He's tired of coaching and money isn't a factor. A major factor in his decision was a recent national magazine article which was not complimentary to him."

• The next day, Lombardi called the report completely without verification. I haven't talked to anyone about any such thing. I repeat - I have no plans, either for tomorrow or for next year. Who knows, I may even be dead by then. That report was a terrible thing, to say the least, and could be upsetting to everybody here (in Green Bay), in­cluding me. We still have one more game and that's all we're interested in here right now. I have no plans to announce anything.
• Vince resisted all attempts to get him to talk about the report during the days leading up to the January 14 game.
  Hal Scott was the brother of Packers' play-by-play man Ray, who firmly denied he was the source of the report. Where could Hal have gotten his information? As David Maraniss put it in his biography of Lombardi, He was not the world's best keeper of secrets. He had started dropping hints that he was considering retire­ment from coaching at least a year earlier. He had told trusted friends that the two jobs, head coach and GM, were too much for one man.
  In fact, Lombardi had decided to do exactly what Scott's report said but didn't want his plans made public because (a) the news might upset his team as it pre­pared for Super Bowl II and (b) he might change his mind. Bengtson later said that Lombardi did not talk to him about becoming head coach until after the game in Miami.
  At least some of the Packer veterans wondered if health wasn't the real reason their revered coach was reassessing his life. Nitschke, for one, thought Lombardi didn't look as healthy as he had a few years earlier. The coach, like the players, showed the strain of the long season.

The teams exchanged films of their last three games. As a result, each team formed opinions about the other that they shared with the press.

• Raiders:
  MLB Dan Conners: We camouflage our defense a lot by moving in and out, listening to the audibles of QBs and getting the rhythm down early. After a while, you can feel the cadence and get the tempo of the game. You have to have a feel for the timing That presents a problem with Bart Starr. He is unrhythmic.
  CB Kent McCloughan: Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale are bigger receivers than we're used to. I've never played against any that big. They are like tight ends, but with better speed. If our two outside defensive backs stop them, we have a chance.
  DT Dan Birdwell: The Packers have been playing together for so long that they don't have to hold illegally. If one guy breaks down, another helps out. It's second nature to them.
  OT Harry Schuh: Looking at films, Willie Davis is awful quick. He is strong on the pass. The game will have to be called real good by the officials in order to keep him honest.
  Years later, C Gus Otto recalled his preparation for Ray Nitschke: I liked his style of play. I liked his toughness because that was basically my game too ... He was al­ways aggressive, always where the play was. Gus could see in the films that the DTs, Jordan and Kostelnik, shielded Nitschke from the center. If you were quick enough, you could get to Nitschke, but that was a formidable threesome they had inside ...
• Packers:
  FL Boyd Dowler: I believe Oakland's defense may be a little better than Kansas City's last year. Their corner backs are better.
  FS Willie Wood: The Oakland receivers rely on moves rather than speed. They don't make mistakes on their patterns. They don't have a Bob Hayes.
  Kramer: We watched some Oakland movies, the Raiders against the New York Jets. We didn't see anything funny about the Raiders - the previous year, before the Super Bowl, we actually laughed out loud at some of the antics of the Kansas City Chiefs ... They're a much better team than Kansas City was last year. ... Their five­two defense is a real problem for us. We haven't seen anything quite like it in the NFL.

As happened the previous year, the AFL champs traveled to the Super Bowl location a few days earlier than the Packers.

• The Oakland team and entourage arrived in South Florida January 4, ten days be­fore the big game. Wary of spies, Davis chose a practice field in the far corner of the campus of St. Andrew's Boys School next to a swamp in Boca Raton. Uniform­ed guards stopped everyone but authorized personnel from entering the one gate leading to the practice area.
• The Raiders expressed confidence while assiduously avoiding any bulletin board comments like the ones Fred "The Hammer" Williamson provided the Packers the previous year.
  Lamonica: If we play like we did against Houston, there is no reason why we can't beat the best. ... Some people have compared me with Bart Starr. I don't copy anyone, although I do admire Starr. But I consider it a real privilege to play against the man who is rated tops in the business.
  The Oakland signal caller kept a copy of Starr's book Quarterbacking in his locker.
  Blanda: This is the best team I've ever played on, and I've played on eighteen of 'em. This team is not going to roll over and play dead. We're not awed by the Packers. We'll give a good account of ourselves.
  Rauch: This team has ... grown in confidence from week to week. The men on this team, I am sure, will respond to one more challenge, like taking on the very best team in all of football.
• Meanwhile the Packers held a closed practice session in Green Bay after jeeps with brushes swept away four inches of snow off the field. The temperature was 4°. The players, some of whom were suffering from colds if not the flu, yearned for the sun­shine of southern Florida almost to the point of revolt. The public didn't know how banged up the squad was, and injuries healed better in warm weather. When the brutal weather didn't break, Lombardi moved the last practices in Wisconsin to a high school gym that was too cramped to get much accomplished.
  The Raiders had at least one sick player also. Otto: In Florida, I got real sick. I had pneumonia and didn't know i. I went in the hospital two weeks later, after the All-Star Game.
• Jimmy 'The Greek" Snyder, the nation's most famous oddsmaker, installed Green Bay as "a strong 14" point favorite. Sports Illustrated picked the Packers to win by four TDs.
  The Greek (real name: Demetrius Synodinus) explained: In this game, the team speeds will be equal, so there are no points involved there. But I had to give Bart Starr two points over Daryle Lamonica ... On the defensive front four, it's another two-point edge for the Packers. ....At middle linebacker, Ray Nitschke is worth three points. ... In the defensive backfield, the Packers have a big edge, four points ... The Packers get two points for their receivers, too. ... That's twelve points for the Pack­ers, so far, and then you've got to give them three more points for the intangibles the coach, Lombardi, is a big intangible, and so is their record in the big games. That's a total of 15 points for the Packers. But take away one because of George Blanda. He's a better place-kicker than Don Chandler. ... That brings it down to 14 points.
• Lamonica scoffed at the point spread. Those predictions - Oakland a two-touchdown underdog - are ridiculous. Green Bay is a great football team, there can be no doubt about that. We respect them. But we should have been undefeated this year. ... This is a young, strong football team. It makes mistakes, but all year it proved it could over­come them. ... I know I'll feel pressure at game time. But if I make a mistake, I hope it's a good honest mistake and not one that results from tensing up.

• Either showing supreme confidence in his team or just covering every exigency, Lombardi had assistant coach Dave Hanner, on a recruiting trip to Florida in the spring of '67, scout out a good place for the team when they played in Super Bowl II. Hog recommended a place in Fort Lauderdale, and Lombardi booked it nine months in advance.
• Before boarding the plane, Lombardi warned his team that they'd damn well not let that Mickey Mouse league beat you. Then contradicting himself, he lauded the Raid­ers. You better be ready or they knock your blocks off. We're not going down there on vacation. As if any Packer would think they were leaving for a vacation.
  Lombardi had deplored his last visit to Miami. That was January 3, 1965, when the Packers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 24-17 in the Playoff Bowl, which matched the runner-up teams. Vince called it the "shit bowl." He didn't let up af­terward either, ranting about a hinky-dink football game, held in a hinky-dink town, played by hinky-dink players. That's all second place is - hinky-dink. He promised he would never finish second again.
• Reporters found Lombardi more jovial and relaxed than he had been before Super Bowl I, when he felt so much pressure to represent the NFL. Still, he refused to talk about his future and restricted his comments to the game against Oakland. I would like to say for the record that I am as proud of this team as any I've ever coached. Any club that could get this far while losing men like Hornung, Taylor, Pitts, and Gra­bowski has to be special in my estimation. We made it here, mind you, with two full­backs nobody else wanted, Chuck Mercein and Ben Wilson.
  Bengtson recalled the preparations for the Raiders: Vince devoured all the infor­mation, but we could sense that there was something else on his mind, something that went beyond the Oakland defense ... All week long, Vince had been hounded by reporters to confirm or deny rumors of his retirement from coaching. Vince was smi­lingly noncommital about it - even cagey - at first. But soon it began to wear on him, and he cut off all inquiries. ... But as the week wore on, the players began to sense something. It began to look like Packer Old Home Week in Miami, with former play­ers, including Paul Hornung, on hand. There were former Lombardi assistants coming around like never before ...
• Kicker Don Chandler told the press: Vince was a lot different going into the Super Bowl this year ... Last year, he never smiled and it was like we were in training camp. This year, he smiles once in a while ... and he allowed us to bring our wives.
  Backup QB Zeke Bratkowski recalled wasting no time getting to work in Florida. We knew Oakland played a lot of bump and run, and we had never been exposed to that other than the Bears. So we went to Miami, and the first day we got out there early. We brought out some defensive backs; we got some ends, and Bart and I just stood there and threw sideline passes all day. And we kept doing it, doing it, doing it. We didn't throw a lot in that game, but the ones Bart did throw were complete. That was Lombardi precision.
• After the first workout at the ballpark where the New York Yankees held spring training, reporters noticed Nitschke was limping. I have a frostbite problem with my toes, he explained. The next day, Lombardi told the press that only the Dallas team was hobbled by the cold, and Ray stopped limping.
• After the last practice on Friday, Vince called the team together. According to Bengtson, he said: I want to say, first of all, that we all know we can win on Sunday. We are old hands at this game, but we also know that we will have to work harder than ever without letting up for one minute. I ... (pause to gain control) want to tell you how very proud I am of ... of all of you. I have told you before that you are the finest team in all of professional football. It's been a long season and Sunday ... may be the last time we are all together. Let's make it a good game, a game we can all be proud of. Many players kept their gaze down and away. Those who looked at Vince saw tears in his eyes. Many eyes in the room were moist and every throat, dry.
  Some of the younger players didn't understand Lombardi's implication, thinking that he just meant this was the last time the group was together that season. But veterans like Starr, Kramer, and Gregg knew what Vince meant. Rather than being distracted, they used the strong possibility that this was his last game as their coach to focus even more on victory.
• Later that Friday, Lombardi faced the press, some of whom may have hoped he would reveal his future plans. He began with a brief statement. I'm real happy to be in this game. Period. That's all. The reporters grilled him. Would he return as Packers coach? Would be stay as GM? Would he coach another team? I'm not sure I have the answer myself, he replied. This is not the proper time to make such a decision. I've got a game to play. I'm exhausted. I'm tired. It's the wrong time to make any decision. When would he make a decision? Look, maybe I won't make any decision at all. Sometimes I think you guys just want to get rid of me.

Super Bowl II differed from its predecessor in several significant ways.

• CBS paid $2.5 million for exclusive television rights - no split telecast between CBS and NBC this year. Buffalo QB Jack Kemp joined Ray Scott and Pat Summerall in the booth. The audience would total over 70 million, more than 1/3 the population of the United States.
• With the NFL not yet convinced of the drawing power of its big game, the telecast was blacked out in the Miami area.
• After the L.A. Coliseum was 1/3 empty for Super Bowl I, the Orange Bowl sold out - 75,546 seats.
  Unlike Los Angeles the year before, when the site had not been set until five weeks before the game, South Florida was enjoying a financial bonanza from the influx of fans attending the game. An official for the Miami Chamber of Commerce said, Our area is getting heavy promotion in newspapers and television. People up north will look out of their windows and see snow in the driveway and a thermometer showing the temperature at zero. Then they will tune in the Super Bowl on TV and see sunshine and girls in summer dresses. Then - we hope - they will come on down.
  Eastern Airlines announced the 900-1,000 people came to Florida from New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis on special package tours that included three days and two nights at an ocean-front hotel or motel, round trip air fare, transportation to and from the airport, and a ticket to the game. Packer fans chartered 10 planes carrying 100 people each.
• Since the AFL and NFL had not completely merged yet, some of the same logistics from Super Bowl I still prevailed.
  ---The team with the ball would use its own brand of football on offense. The AFL ball was slightly longer than the NFL ball.
  ---The AFL's two-point conversion option would not be in effect.
  ---The officiating crew would consist of six officials, three from each league. Jack West of the AFL would be the referee. The officials would again wear the special shirts that had been designed for Super Bowl I.