Super Bowl III
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| Date | January 12, 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Kickoff time | 3:05 p.m. EST (20:05 UTC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Miami Orange Bowl Miami, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Joe Namath, quarterback | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Colts by 18 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Tom Bell | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 75,389 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | |||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Lloyd Geisler of the Washington National Symphony Orchestra | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | "America Thanks" with Florida A&M University band | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis, and Kyle Rote | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 36.0 (est. 41.66 million viewers) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Market share | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of 30-second commercial | $55,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Radio in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Charlie Jones, George Ratterman and Pat Summerall | ||||||||||||||||||
Super Bowl III was an American football championship game played on January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Super Bowl". Super Bowl III is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in both American football history and in the history of professional sports. The 19-point underdog American Football League (AFL) champion New York Jets defeated the National Football League (NFL) champion Baltimore Colts by a score of 16–7.
The game was the first Super Bowl victory for the AFL. Before the game many sports writers and fans believed that AFL teams were less talented than NFL clubs, and expected the Colts to defeat the Jets by a wide margin. Baltimore posted a 13–1 record in the regular season and shut out the Cleveland Browns, the only team to beat the Colts in the regular season, 34–0 in the NFL Championship Game. The Jets were 11–3 in the regular season, and defeated the Oakland Raiders 27–23 in the AFL Championship Game.
Jets quarterback Joe Namath famously made an appearance three days before the Super Bowl at the Miami Touchdown Club in which he personally guaranteed his team's victory. His team backed up his words by controlling the majority of the game, building a 16–0 lead by the fourth quarter off of a touchdown run by Matt Snell and three field goals by Jim Turner. Colts quarterback Earl Morrall threw three interceptions before being replaced by Johnny Unitas, who then led Baltimore to its only touchdown, during the last few minutes of the game. With the victory, the Jets were the only winning team to score only one touchdown (either offensive, defensive, or special teams) until the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII. Namath, who completed 17 out of 28 passes for 206 yards, was named as the Super Bowl's most valuable player, making him the first player in Super Bowl history to be declared MVP without personally scoring or throwing for a touchdown.
This is the only Super Bowl whose matchup cannot (barring a future realignment and/or change to the playoff format) occur in the Super Bowl again, as both the Jets and Colts play in the American Football Conference (AFC).