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We’re headed into week 11 of the NFL season, and one of the matchups on this week’s slate of games finds the Kansas City Chiefs facing their AFC West division rivals, the Denver Broncos. Our Throwback Thursday time machine will land on October 11, 1964 for an AFL contest between the 2 teams. These clubs were like night and day as far as success on the field goes during the 10 years of the AFL’s existence. The Dallas/Kansas City franchise won 3 league titles, including the final one in 1969, while Denver failed to compile a winning record in any of the 10 years of the league’s stand-alone existence.

So it was not surprising that when they took the field for this matchup, in the league’s fifth year, that the Broncos had not beaten the Chiefs in 8 attempts to that point. There was no reason to expect that this streak would end on this day, as Denver entered the contest winless at 0-4. There was determination, and perhaps a bit of embarrassment, on the Bronco sideline, and they managed the only score of the opening quarter on a 4 yard touchdown run by running back Charlie Mitchell. As is common with losing teams, Denver missed the extra point, which allowed the Chiefs to take the lead at 7-6 when Len Dawson found end Chris Burford for 17 yards and a TD. The rest of the half was a field goal kicking contest between Denver’s Gene Mingo, who booted 17 and 47 yarders, and K.C.’s Tommy Brooker, who connected from 37 and 48 yards. This left the Chiefs with a slim 13-12 lead.

There’s no telling whether keeping the score close motivated the Broncos or if coach Mac Speedie fired them up with a speech, but the lowly Denver squad came out fired up in the second half. They dominated the third quarter, as quarterback Jacky Lee hit star receiver Lionel Taylor with a 13 yard scoring toss, then heaved a 58 yard touchdown bomb to Mitchell. Lee, who had come to Denver on a strange “lend-lease” trade with Houston that saw the Oilers loaning the QB to the Mile High club for 2 years, found Taylor again for a 34 yard score to open the final quarter, and Denver found themselves in the unusual position of holding a commanding 33-13 lead.

Vagabond AFL quarterback Jacky Lee

Kansas City was too proud of a team to not fight back, and indeed they did. Dawson connected with his tight end, Fred Arbanas, for a 33 yard score, then hit Burford from 21 yards out to cut the final deficit to 33-27, as Denver held on to win. It was a satisfying result for the long-suffering Broncos, although it didn’t last long as the Chiefs would win the next 11 matchups between the Western Division foes. Still, it was a fine effort from Lee, who bounced around the AFL with 3 different teams but won 3 championships as a backup, and Mitchell, who garnered 127 yards from scrimmage and who earned a doctorate in education after his playing days ended.

Dr. Charles Mitchell, later in life

On this week’s NFL slate of games, the Atlanta Falcons meet the Indianapolis Colts. Our Throwback Thursday feature game took place on December 6, 1998 at the Georgia Dome between these 2 clubs. The final result was a 28-21 Falcons’ victory, but it was a groundbreaking contest for the Atlanta franchise for a shocking reason. The teams had met 10 times prior to this game since the Falcons entered the NFL as an expansion team in 1966, and amazingly the Colts had won all 10. If ever there was going to be an ideal time for Atlanta to break that streak, this would be it. The Falcons, under coach Dan Reeves, entered the contest with a 10-2 record, and would ultimately wind up qualifying for the first Super Bowl appearance in club history. Indy, on the other hand, sported a 2-10 mark and were led by a struggling rookie quarterback – some guy named Peyton Manning.

Manning looked like anything but a scuffling rookie to start the game, as he engineered a pair of touchdown drives that culminated with scoring passes of 11 yards to running back Marshall Faulk and 30 yards to receiver Torrance Small. The lowly Colts now led 14-0. Would they shock the world and continue their crazy domination of the Falcons? Atlanta QB Chris Chandler cut the deficit in half with a 40 yard touchdown toss to Tony Martin, but Faulk scored again, this time on a 3 yard run, to put the Colts up 21-7. Atlanta was just too good of a club to stay down, and they rallied to score twice, on touchdown runs of 1 yard by Jamal Anderson and 3 yards by Chandler (with 5 seconds left in the half), to tie the game at 21-21 going into the break.

The defenses of both teams rose up in the second half, with the only score coming on a third quarter 3 yard pass from Chandler to Terance Mathis, giving the Falcons a 28-21 lead that wound up being the final score. Statistically, Atlanta had a 100 yard rusher in Anderson (30 carries for 122 yards) and a 100 yard receiver in Martin (7 catches for 140 yards). Anderson’s “Dirty Bird” touchdown celebration dance was a feature of the team’s surprising Super Bowl season, and as for the Colts, although the ’98 season was a wash, they faced a bright future with Manning under center as he matured into a Hall of Famer.

Jamal Anderson does his “Dirty Bird” TD celebration

This week the New York Giants face the San Francisco 49ers, so we’ll harken back to January 22, 2012 to an NFC Championship game played between these 2 clubs for our Throwback Thursday feature. Playing at home at Candlestick Park and sporting a 14-4 record, the Niners were favored over the 12-7 wild card Giants. Halfway through the opening quarter, San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith found his tight end, Vernon Davis on a 73 yard scoring pass, but the Giants would do the only scoring in the second stanza, taking a 10-7 lead into the locker room after a 6 yard Eli Manning TD toss to Bear Pascoe and a Lawrence Tynes field goal. Davis, who had a massive day with 3 receptions for 112 yards, hauled in a 28 yard pass from Smith to give his club a 14-10 lead after 3 quarters.

Both defenses dominated a lot of this contest, with the Giants registering 6 sacks and the 49ers sacking Manning 3 times and forcing a pair of turnovers. Manning broke the ice in the final quarter with a go-ahead 17 yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham, who would have a heroic effort a couple of weeks later. David Akers tied the game with a short field goal to send it into overtime, where coach Tom Coughlin’s gritty Giants would eke out a 20-17 win on a Tynes field goal.

The upset win set up a Deja Vu championship game in Super Bowl XLVI, as the Giants upset New England 21-17, with Manningham making an incredible sideline catch that helped set up the winning touchdown, similar to the David Tyree “helmet catch” that set up the winning score in Super Bowl XLII, which saw the Giants stun the previously unbeaten Patriots.

49ers’ Alex Smith feeling the heat