How was home field determined for pre-1966 div. playoffs?

[Throwin_Samoan]

The search function tells me the terms are too common, so I'll ask the group: prior to the split into Capitol/Coastal/Century/Central divisions in 1966, how was home field for a conference playoff (like Browns-Giants in 1958) determined? Coin flip?

[SixtiesFan]

I believe it was a coin flip.

Also, as I have said previously, prior to 1967, you did not "make the playoffs" or "make the post-season," you won your division.

[Throwin_Samoan]

Yeaaaaaah, but ( a ) I didn't say "make the playoffs," and ( b ) the games to determine who "won their division (/conference)" were referred to as "playoffs," so that's the correct nomenclature.

I asked how they determined who hosted those playoffs, which were one game tiebreakers.

[RyanChristiansen]

I run a Strat-O-Matic Pro Football League, and we had a three-way tie in the NFL Western Conference at the end of the 1961 season. I searched high and low for an answer, which included asking a league member who works at NFL Films, and here is the answer we settled on: home field advantage is determined by a coin flip. I did find evidence for this in an old newspaper article, but I did not save that reference.

[RichardBak]

I know that near the end of the 1951 and 1957 seasons, when there was the possibility of 3 or even 4 teams (!) winding up tied for the Western Div. title, a series of coin flips decided who would face who, and who would be the home team, in the ensuing round-robin playoffs. The coin flips were held in Bert Bell's office with a representative from each involved team attending. I assume the Commish did the actual coin flipping.

Had the Lions, Bears, 49ers, and Rams all finished 7-4-1 in 1951 (a possibility up to the final Sunday of play), Detroit actually was in position--thanks to some lucky coin flips--to play an unprecedented three straight postseason home games: two division playoff games and then the title game vs Cleveland (which back then rotated between conferences and was the West's turn that year).

[Throwin_Samoan]

Thanks, Ryan and Richard.

I went searching old newspapers for it and had not found it yet, but I figured eventually someone would have had to have written about it. The coin flip scenario made the most sense.

Once they went to four divisions, establishing tiebreaking criteria made more sense than playing off a tie, given the scheduling that had to happen to fit everything inside the window. (Seems like 1967, when the Rams and Colts both went 11-1-2 and LA went 1-0-1 against Baltimore, was the first time those came into play.)

[RichardBak]

I run a Strat-O-Matic Pro Football League, and we had a three-way tie in the NFL Western Conference at the end of the 1961 season. I searched high and low for an answer, which included asking a league member who works at NFL Films, and here is the answer we settled on: home field advantage is determined by a coin flip. I did find evidence for this in an old newspaper article, but I did not save that reference.

I'm an old APBA guy, so I'm curious. Who won the round-robin in the West and the ensuing title game?

[RyanChristiansen]

I run a Strat-O-Matic Pro Football League, and we had a three-way tie in the NFL Western Conference at the end of the 1961 season. I searched high and low for an answer, which included asking a league member who works at NFL Films, and here is the answer we settled on: home field advantage is determined by a coin flip. I did find evidence for this in an old newspaper article, but I did not save that reference.

I'm an old APBA guy, so I'm curious. Who won the round-robin in the West and the ensuing title game?

Green Bay, Los Angeles, and Chicago played the round robin to determine the Western Conference winner. The results came out nearly even and we came damn close to having to play a second round robin. In the end, Green Bay won the conference. New York won the East and also the championship.

Keep in mind this was not a stock league, nor was it a draft league, either. The league was based on the premise the AFL folded after 1960, and so starting in 1961 each NFL team would start with its stock roster but then get to add the players they historically drafted but who chose to play in the AFL, instead. Then we filled out rosters further using a free agency blind bidding system for the remaining AFL players. In many way, the teams were stacked, and the good teams just got better through that system. However, the guy who ran the Packers barely participated in free agency, so it was pretty much the stock Packers team who made it to the championship game.

[RichardBak]

Interesting approach. And given the 3-way tie in the West, that means Detroit didn't finish higher than 4th. Even in make-believe leagues the Lions suck.

What was the score of your NY-GB title game? In the real game, of course, GB destroyed Giants, 37-0.

[RyanChristiansen]

Interesting approach. And given the 3-way tie in the West, that means Detroit didn't finish higher than 4th. Even in make-believe leagues the Lions suck.

What was the score of your NY-GB title game? In the real game, of course, GB destroyed Giants, 37-0.

Here is the box score. You'll see players from the AFL on the teams, especially the Giants.

boxscore1.JPG (58.75 KiB) Viewed 14354 times

boxscore2.JPG (39.99 KiB) Viewed 14354 times

boxscore3.JPG (48.58 KiB) Viewed 14354 times