The Super Bowl has certainly come a long way.
The Buccaneers and Chiefs are set to meet on Sunday to play in Super Bowl LV, the 55th world championship game in the NFL’s history. The Chiefs are playing in back-to-back Super Bowls and the Bucs are returning to the big stage for the first time since 2003.
There’s a lot of history between now, though, and the very start of the NFL’s first big game.
Prior to Super Bowl I, football teams around the country competed in two separate leagues that crowned champions – the National Football League, and the American Football League. The two organizations merged in 1969, and for the first time ever the following January, the AFL champion Chiefs faced the NFL champion Packers in a game we now refer to as Super Bowl I. The game was played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
At the time, the game was simply referred to as the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game.” It wasn’t until Super Bowl IV in 1970, which was won by the Chiefs, that the “Super Bowl” name was used.
Led by game MVP Bart Starr, the favored Packers team blew open Super Bowl I in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns to take a 28-10 lead. Green Bay finished the game with 21 unanswered points in the second half to win a world championship – and added a second title the next year in Super Bowl II.
You can watch highlights from Super Bowl I on YouTube.
