The AFL’s Chargers Issue A Challenge

The 1963 AFL Championship Game, although clearly something to watch, was anything but packed with drama. The San Diego Chargers had walked away with the AFL Championship after winning the game 51-3. Then, in an example of what made the AFL so great, Chargers Head Coach issued a challenge to then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle that the Chargers would take on the NFL’s champion Chicago Bears to decide which professional league had the best championship team. Rozelle declined the challenge, understandably so as the NFL had nothing to win by beating the upstart AFL and everything to lose.

Whether it’s the AFL of the 1960s, the WFL of the 1970s, the USFL of the 1980s, or even the XFL in 2001… the NFL does a great job as the establishment/corporate league but it’s great to see an upstart league come along and give the NFL a good poke in the eye.