1968 New York Jets season

The 1968 New York Jets season was the ninth season for the team in the American Football League (AFL). The team had the most successful season in franchise history. Trying to improve upon their 8–5–1 record of 1967, they won the AFL Eastern Division with an 11–3 record. They defeated the defending champion Oakland Raiders, 27–23 in the AFL championship game and earned the right to play in Super Bowl III against the NFL champion Baltimore Colts. In a stunning upset, marked by fourth-year quarterback Joe Namath's famous "guarantee" of victory, the Jets defeated the heavily favored Colts 16–7. The Jets have yet to return to the Super Bowl, making them and the New Orleans Saints the only teams to have won their only championship game, also holding the longest appearance drought in NFL history, having not appeared in the 53 complete seasons since this game; they did not appear in a semifinal playoff round again until 1983.

In 2007, NFL Network aired America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions, the 1968 New York Jets, with team commentary from Joe Namath, Gerry Philbin and Don Maynard, and was narrated by Alec Baldwin. The Jets ranked #24 on the 100 greatest teams of all time presented by the NFL on its 100th anniversary. Of those 24, only three came before the AFL-NFL Merger. The Jets were the highest ranked team that played in the AFL, and also the highest pre-merger team not coached by Vince Lombardi.^[1][2]

The last remaining active member of the 1968 New York Jets was guard Randy Rasmussen, who retired after the 1981 NFL season.