1965 American Football League Championship Game

The defending champion Bills entered the game as 6½ point underdogs; and tied the Thanksgiving rematch at twenty points each. ==Game summary==

In favorable conditions on the day after Christmas, This was the last AFL Championship to end the season; the AFL–NFL merger agreement was made the following June, and the first Super Bowl followed the 1966 season. ==Box score==

• Referee: Jim Barnhill • Umpire: Walt Parker • Head linesman: Henry Kessel • Back judge: Jack Reader • Field judge: Ben Dreith • Alternate: Elvin Hutchison == Statistics ==

The winning Bills players were allocated $5,189 each, while the Chargers players received $3,447 each. This was twice as much as the previous year and about 70% of the players' shares for the NFL championship game. Because of the smaller venue, the attendance was nearly 10,000 lower than 1964, but the television money was increased with NBC. ==Aftermath==

This game marked the first time the AFL Championship Game was televised in color, and the last time that a final pro football championship was decided in December, within the same calendar year as regular season games (the 1965 NFL Championship Game was played on January 2, 1966). The following season would conclude with the first Super Bowl played in January 1967. This is the last professional American football championship game to have been won by a team from Buffalo, New York, as well as the last of any major league team from the city. Indeed, the fortunes of both teams would subsequently wane. The Bills would not appear in another championship game until Super Bowl XXV when the infamous Wide Right occurred, and would also proceed to lose the next three Super Bowls. The Chargers meanwhile would not appear in another championship until Super Bowl XXIX, which they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 49–26. San Diego and Buffalo currently have the longest and second-longest championship droughts respectively for any city that has at least two major sports franchises. ==See also==