1966 American Football League season

The season ended when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the two-time defending champion Buffalo Bills in the AFL Championship game, and were defeated by the NFL's Green Bay Packers in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, now known as Super Bowl I.

In previous seasons (with eight clubs), each played a home-and-away game against the other seven.

Though Boston and Miami were both in the Eastern Division, they met only once, on November 27 (each team played Western Division teams Kansas City and Denver twice, while Boston also played San Diego twice and Miami played Oakland twice --- meaning that the Patriots and Dolphins each had a schedule that called for them to face three non-division opponents more often than they played a divisional opponent).

Prior to the season, the AFL–NFL merger was announced in June, and both leagues agreed to have their champions meet in an annual AFL-NFL World Championship Game (later known as the Super Bowl), beginning in January 1967.

Joe Auer would score the first touchdown in Dolphins history, returning an opening kickoff for 95 yards versus the Oakland Raiders.