Record 13–1 Head coach Don Shula Owner Carroll Rosenbloom | Division place 1st NFL Coastal Start date 1968 Home field Memorial Stadium | |
Playoff finish Won Western Conference (Minnesota Vikings, 24–14)
Won NFL Championship
(Cleveland Browns, 34–0)
Lost Super Bowl III
(New York Jets, 16–7) People also search for 1970 Balti Colts season | ||
The 1968 Baltimore Colts season was the 16th season for the team in the National Football League. Led by sixth-year head coach Don Shula, they finished the regular season with a record of 13 wins and 1 loss, and won the Western Conference's Coastal division.
Contents
The previous season, the Colts' record was 11–1–2, tied for the best in the league, but were excluded from the playoffs. They lost a tiebreaker with the Los Angeles Rams for the Coastal Division title in 1967; the other three teams in the NFL postseason, all division winners, had nine wins each.
In 1968, Baltimore won the Western Conference playoff game with the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL Championship Game in a shutout of the Cleveland Browns, but then lost to the New York Jets of the American Football League in Super Bowl III. Hall of fame quarterback Johnny Unitas had been injured during the pre-season, so Earl Morrall led the offense. Shula decided to bring Unitas back in during the second half of the Super Bowl, to no avail.
Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
Post-season
The team made it to the playoffs as winners of the Coastal division and hosted the Minnesota Vikings of the Central division for the Western Conference title. The Colts took a 21–0 lead and went on to win 24–14. They then traveled to Cleveland to take on the Browns in the NFL Championship Game. Baltimore's only loss of the season came at home to the Browns in October, falling 20–30. In late December, the Colts defense was on top of their game as they shut out the Browns 34–0 to gain their third NFL title. The 1968 Colts were being touted as "the greatest football team in history."
In Super Bowl III, the Colts took on the heavy underdog New York Jets led by quarterback Joe Namath, with the Colts favored by 17 to 21 points. Before the game, former NFL star and coach Norm Van Brocklin ridiculed the AFL, saying "This will be Namath's first professional football game." Three days before the game, Namath was being heckled in Miami and he responded by saying: "We’re going to win Sunday. I guarantee it." The Jets beat the Colts 16–7 in one of the biggest upsets in American sports history.
Perhaps the biggest effect of the Colts' loss is that the predominant sentiment that the AFL was not strong enough to merge with the NFL was firmly squelched.
Awards
Earl Morrall: AP NFL MVP
Don Shula: AP NFL Coach of the Year