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Green Bay Packers v. Kansas City Chiefs: Glory and Gory Games

By Todd Welter

Green Bay's Elijah Pitts (22) charges into the end zone, eluding Bobby Hunt (20), during the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles, Jan. 16, 1967. Pitts scored from the five on the play following Willie Wood's interception in the third quarter. Packers beat the Chiefs, 35-10.Elijah Pitts Bobby Hunt
Green Bay's Elijah Pitts (22) charges into the end zone, eluding Bobby Hunt (20), during the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles, Jan. 16, 1967. Pitts scored from the five on the play following Willie Wood's interception in the third quarter. Packers beat the Chiefs, 35-10.Elijah Pitts Bobby Hunt /
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The Green Bay Packers visit the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The anticipated Aaron Rodgers versus Patrick Mahomes match for State Farm commercial supremacy will not happen.

Rodgers is out after he tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed on the reserve/COVID list. While there is plenty of controversy surrounding Rodgers being out, there is still a game to be played.

The Green Bay Packers and Chiefs have only crossed paths 13 times prior to this Sunday’s game. Kansas City leads the series 7-5-1. Green Bay has won three of the last four meetings. The Packers’ own possibly the most historic win between the two.

Green Bay Packers v. Chiefs Glory Game

On January 15, 1967, the NFL champion Green Bay Packers met the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to play the first-ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game–the game we now know as the Super Bowl.

The game did not have the hype or even the Halftime Show pageantry we have today. The game failed to sell out the LA Coliseum and the ticket cost just 12 bucks–compared to the $3,488 a Super Bowl ticket costs today.

Everyone expected the Packers to roll the Chiefs as it was widely viewed prior to the AFL-NFL merger; the NFL was the far superior football brand.

The Green Bay Packers soundly won the first Super Bowl 35-10.

Packers legendary quarterback Bart Starr was brilliant as he completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards along with two touchdown throws. His main target was wide receiver Max McGee, who caught seven passes for 138 yards along with two touchdowns—all while nursing a self-admitted hangover.

McGee had caught just four passes all season and did not see the field much. He decided to hit the LA nightlife the night before the game since he thought we would not see the field. Boyd Dowler’s injury thrusted the old veteran onto the field, and the rest is legend as Sports Illustrated Tim Layden wrote:

"It is a story that irresistibly finds its way into the snickering, puerile hearts of male football fans of all ages, the tale of a Packer playboy who not only ignored The Man (and no coach has ever been more The Man than Lombardi), but got the girl(s!) and then dominated the Super Bowl with a hangover, winning a chest full of macho merit badges in a single night (and in the day that followed). As long as there are Super Bowls, there will be Max McGee, the guy with an alliterative name straight from a cheap crime novel who stayed out in the darkness of a winter night in California and groggily emerged a hero in the sunlight of the biggest football game in America.The best part is that it’s all true."

It was a tight game in the first half as the Packers went into halftime up 14-10. Elijah Pitts scored two touchdowns, and McGee scored one of his two touchdowns in the second half as Green Bay ran away from the Chiefs.

Green Bay’s Elijah Pitts (22) charges into the end zone, eluding Bobby Hunt (20), during the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles, Jan. 16, 1967. Pitts scored from the five on the play following Willie Wood’s interception in the third quarter. Packers beat the Chiefs, 35-10.
Green Bay’s Elijah Pitts (22) charges into the end zone, eluding Bobby Hunt (20), during the first Super Bowl in Los Angeles, Jan. 16, 1967. Pitts scored from the five on the play following Willie Wood’s interception in the third quarter. Packers beat the Chiefs, 35-10. /

Starr was named the game’s MVP, and legendary coach Vince Lombardi won the first of his two Super Bowl trophies that would later come to bear his name.

Packers v. Chiefs Gory Game

The Chiefs enjoyed a five-game win streak in the series, starting in 1989 and finally ending in 2007. None of the Packers’ losses looked worse than when the Chiefs won 27-20 on November 10, 1996, at Arrowhead.

Why is this is the Gory Game?

First, the Chiefs jumped out to a 20-6 halftime lead on one of the greatest defenses of all time.  You know the defense led by the legendary Reggie White and supported by such Packers greats as Gilbert Brown, LeRoy Butler, and Santana Dotson. It was the NFL’s best defense all season and probably one of the top-5 defenses ever.

Even more depressing about the defense’s performance was the Chiefs did it by running the ball down the Packers’ throat with a backup running back.

Greg Hill ran for 94 yards on just 14 carries and scored two touchdowns.

Second, the Packers lost despite Chiefs’ quarterback Steve Bono completing just nine passes.

The Chiefs’ defense, on the other hand, had a pretty nice day. Legendary pass rusher Derrick Thomas harassed Brett Favre all day. Thomas finished with two sacks. Favre was sacked four times in total by Kansas City.

Kansas City’s defense forced two Packers turnovers, limited the Pack to just 75 yards rushing and just 6.4 yards per pass.

Favre tried to rally the Packers with two scoring drives in the second half. He connected with Derrick Mayes for a last-minute touchdown to pull Green Bay within seven, but the Packers could not recover the onside kick, and Bono took two knees to ice the game.

The Green Bay Packers would go on to win the Super Bowl that season. This game was one of three stains on their way towards bringing the Vince Lombardi Trophy home.

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