1968 NFL season

1968 National Football League season

Regular season
Duration	September 14 – December 15, 1968
Playoffs
East Champions	Cleveland Browns
West Champions	Baltimore Colts
Championship Game
Champions	Baltimore Colts
← 1967 NFL seasons 1969 →

The 1968 NFL season was the 49th regular season of the National Football League. As per the agreement made during the 1967 realignment, the New Orleans Saints and the New York Giants switched divisions; the Saints joined the Century Division while the Giants became part of the Capitol Division.

The season ended when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Championship Game, only to be defeated by the American Football League's New York Jets in Super Bowl III 16–7 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Subsequently, it was the first time in the history of professional football in which the NFL champion was not crowned as the world champion. One year later, this feat would be repeated, as the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the NFL champion Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

Contents

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  1 Division races
  
  
  
  • 
    1.1 Colts and Rams
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  2 Final standings
  


• 
  3 Playoffs
  


• 
  4 Awards
  


• 
  5 Draft
  


• 
  6 Coaches
  
  
  
  • 
    6.1 Eastern Conference
    
  
  
  • 
    6.2 Western Conference
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  7 See also
  


• 
  8 References
  

Division races

The Eastern Conference was split into the Capitol and Century Divisions, and the Western Conference had the Coastal and Central Divisions. In the past, if two teams were tied for the division lead at season's end, a one-game playoff was conducted to break the tie. Starting in 1967, a tiebreaking system was implemented that started with net points in head-to-head competition, followed by the team that had less recently played in a title game. As such, only one team in a division would be the division winner, even if the won-lost record was the same.

Colts and Rams

For the second straight season, the Colts and Rams waged a tight season long battle for the Coastal Division title. In 1967, the Rams defeated the Colts in the season's final game to claim the title. They appeared headed for a similar showdown in 1968 (they were scheduled to face each other in the season finale in L.A.), as the Rams entered week 13 with a 10-1-1 record while the Colts were 11-1-0. But in the next to last game, the Rams were upset by the Chicago Bears 17-16 in what was known as "the lost down game." The biggest play on the game came when the Rams completed a second down pass to get into field goal range in the final minute, but the play was wiped out by a holding penalty. It should have remained second down due to the Bears accepting the penalty on the Rams, but the referees forgot to reset the down marker. After two incomplete passes, the Rams lined up for a fourth down attempt, but the referees waived the Bears offense onto the field on a change of possession; the Bears ran out the clock and the Colts (who had already won earlier in the day) clinched the division. Note that in the now meaningless season finale, the Colts won 28-24.

Week	Capitol		Century		Coastal		Central
1	Dallas*	1–0–0	Cleveland	1–0–0	Baltimore*	1–0–0	Minnesota*	1–0–0
2	Dallas*	2–0–0	Cleveland*	1–1–0	Baltimore*	2–0–0	Minnesota*	2–0–0
3	Dallas*	3–0–0	Cleveland*	1–2–0	Baltimore*	3–0–0	Minnesota*	2–1–0
4	Dallas	4–0–0	Cleveland	2–2–0	Baltimore*	4–0–0	Minnesota	3–1–0
5	Dallas	5–0–0	St. Louis*	2–3–0	Baltimore*	5–0–0	Minnesota*	3–2–0
6	Dallas	6–0–0	St. Louis*	3–3–0	Los Angeles	6–0–0	Detroit	3–2–1
7	Dallas	6–1–0	St. Louis*	4–3–0	Baltimore*	6–1–0	Detroit*	3–3–1
8	Dallas	7–1–0	St. Louis*	5–3–0	Baltimore*	7–1–0	Chicago*	4–4–0
9	Dallas	7–2–0	Cleveland	6–3–0	Baltimore*	8–1–0	Chicago*	5–4–0
10	Dallas	8–2–0	Cleveland	7–3–0	Baltimore	9–1–0	Minnesota	6–4–0
11	Dallas	9–2–0	Cleveland	8–3–0	Baltimore	10–1–0	Minnesota	6–5–0
12	Dallas	10–2–0	Cleveland	9–3–0	Baltimore	11–1–0	Chicago*	6–6–0
13	Dallas	11–2–0	Cleveland	10–3–0	Baltimore	12–1–0	Chicago*	7–6–0
14	Dallas	12–2–0	Cleveland	10–4–0	Baltimore	13–1–0	Minnesota	8–6–0

• indicates more than one team with record

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Note: Prior to 1972, the NFL did not include tie games when calculating a team's winning percentage in the official standings

Eastern Conference
Capitol Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Dallas Cowboys	12	2	0	.857	431	186
New York Giants	7	7	0	.500	294	325
Washington Redskins	5	9	0	.357	249	358
Philadelphia Eagles	2	12	0	.143	202	351
Century Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Cleveland Browns	10	4	0	.714	394	273
St. Louis Cardinals	9	4	1	.692	325	289
New Orleans Saints	4	9	1	.308	246	327
Pittsburgh Steelers	2	11	1	.154	244	397

Western Conference
Coastal Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Baltimore Colts	13	1	0	.929	402	144
Los Angeles Rams	10	3	1	.769	312	200
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	303	310
Atlanta Falcons	2	12	0	.143	170	389
Central Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Minnesota Vikings	8	6	0	.571	282	242
Chicago Bears	7	7	0	.500	250	333
Green Bay Packers	6	7	1	.462	281	227
Detroit Lions	4	8	2	.333	207	241

Playoffs

Main article: 1968 NFL playoffs

	Conference Championship Games				NFL Championship Game
	December 22, 1968 – Memorial Stadium
	Minnesota Vikings	14
					December 29, 1968 – Cleveland Stadium
	Baltimore Colts	24
					Baltimore Colts	34
	December 21, 1968 – Cleveland Stadium
					Cleveland Browns	0
	Dallas Cowboys	20
	Cleveland Browns	31

Awards

Most Valuable Player	Earl Morrall, Quarterback, Baltimore Colts
Coach of the Year	Don Shula, Baltimore Colts
Offensive Rookie of the Year	Earl McCullouch, Wide receiver, Detroit
Defensive Rookie of the Year	Claude Humphrey, Defensive end, Atlanta

Draft

The 1968 NFL Draft was held from January 30 to 31, 1968 at New York City's Belmont Plaza Hotel. With the first pick, the Minnesota Vikings selected offensive tackle Ron Yary from the University of Southern California.

Coaches

Eastern Conference

• 
  Cleveland Browns: Blanton Collier
  


• 
  Dallas Cowboys: Tom Landry
  


• 
  New Orleans Saints: Tom Fears
  


• 
  New York Giants: Allie Sherman
  


• 
  Philadelphia Eagles: Joe Kuharich
  


• 
  Pittsburgh Steelers: Bill Austin
  


• 
  St. Louis Cardinals: Charley Winner
  


• 
  Washington Redskins: Otto Graham
  

Western Conference

• 
  Atlanta Falcons: Norb Hecker (3 games), Norm Van Brocklin (11 games)


• 
  Baltimore Colts: Don Shula
  


• 
  Chicago Bears: Jim Dooley
  


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  Detroit Lions: Joe Schmidt
  


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  Green Bay Packers: Phil Bengtson
  


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  Los Angeles Rams: George Allen
  


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  Minnesota Vikings: Bud Grant
  


• 
  San Francisco 49ers: Dick Nolan
  

See also

• 
  Super Bowl III: N.Y. Jets (AFL) 16, Baltimore (NFL) 7, at Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, Florida
  


• 1968 American Football League season

References

• The NFL Record and Fact Book (.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
  ISBN 1-932994-36-X)


• 
  NFL History 1961–1970 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)


• 
  Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (
  ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

v t e 1968 NFL season
Eastern Conference Capitol Century Coastal Central Western Conference Dallas Cleveland Atlanta Chicago NY Giants New Orleans Baltimore Detroit Philadelphia Pittsburgh Los Angeles Green Bay Washington St. Louis San Francisco Minnesota
1968 NFL Draft 1968 NFL strike/lockout NFL Playoffs NFL Championship Pro Bowl Super Bowl III Related: 1968 AFL season

v t e National Football League seasons
Early era (1920–1969)	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
Modern era (1970–present)	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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