Kansas City Chiefs

Vs.

Chicago Bears

August 23, 1967

Bears Routed by Kansas City, 66-24

103 Yard Run by Dick Gordon

By Cooper Rollow

(Chicago Tribune Press Service)

Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 23- The Kansas City Chiefs, proud champions of a proud new league, turned a promoter's dream into a competitive nightmare here tonight.

As a hysterical capacity crowd of 33,041 screamed in sheer ecstasy, the Chiefs, defending champions of the American Football league, stormed to a 66 to 24 victory over the Chicago Bears.

Tonight's interleague mismatch should have been named the Stupor Bowl because the Bears played as if they were in a trance. The 66 points scored by the Chiefs were the most ever run up against the Bears in 47 years of National league exhibition and championship play.

The Chiefs flung everything imaginable against George Halas’ distraught forces. Their multiple offense included a nifty tight end I formation. They stunted and jumped around from their stacked defense like an excited band of traveling gypsies.

Most of all, they blocked and tackled the Bears into utter, complete submission.

Len Dawson, an uncanny slingshot artist, got out of a sickbed to lead the Chiefs in the most devastating assault seen in these parts since the long-ago days of Quantrill’s Raiders.

Dawson, who has been wrestling with a virus for a week, threw four touchdown passes, two of them to flanker Otis Taylor, to take the Chiefs through a fantastic 32-point second quarter spree and to a 39 to 10 halftime lead.

Pete Beathard, Dawson's back-up man and also a flu victim, finished up by throwing an 80-yard scoring pass and putting the final points up on the scoreboard on a two yard smash.

Bear touchdowns were scored by Dick Gordon, a recent graduate from the ranks of the unemployed, who returned a kickoff 103 yards just before halftime; by Ralph Kurek on a 32-yard run, and by Brian Piccolo on a l-yard plunge.

Bruce Alford booted a 35-yard field goal to cap an 80-yard Bear march following the opening kickoff. The drive, engi­neered by Quarterback Rudy Bukich, was ridiculously easy.

It must have given the Bears a false sense of security. They came completely unglued, both offensively and defensively, as soon as the Chiefs retaliated for their first touchdown.

The inaugural Kansas City score came on a spectacular pass collaboration between Dawson and Taylor, who faked the Bears Bennie McRae nearly out of Municipal Stadium, and then looked over his shoulder to gather in Dawson's high lob. The play covered 70 yards.

No sooner did the teams get settled after the ensuing kickoff than Bukich gave the Chiefs a chance to heighten their lead by missing Brian Piccolo with a short pass over the middle. Linebacker E. J. Holub eagerly gobbled up the ball and it took Dawson exactly one play to hit Chris Burford with an 11-yard touchdown strike.

Control of the game passed over to the Chiefs at this point, and Coach Hank Starm's club began battling with gusto, swarming over Bear runners and pass receivers to force a punt, them hammering away at Chicago's two fledgling defensive ends, Marty Amsler and Loyd Phillips.

With Mike Garrett and Curtis McClinton running like stallions, the Chiefs pulverized the right side of the Bear defense where Amsler was perspiring in futile agony, marching 72 yards in 13 plays to a touchdown.

Garrett got the score on a 1-yard plunge and the Chiefs applied the supreme insult by faking an extra-point kick and passing for a two point conversion,

It was the first successful two point conversion in the new interleague exhibition rivalry between the two professional leagues, which now stands at five victories for the Nationals and three for the Americans.

Twenty-four points went into the ledger during the last frantic 1 minute and 43 seconds of the first half. The parade started when Dawson sent Taylor around end for 32 yards on a double reverse, and then passed 11 yards to Gloster Richardson for a touchdown.

Gordon, who   rejoined   the Bears only last week after playing out his option, burst almost straight up the middle with the ensuing kickoff return and raced 103 yards for a touchdown.

A minute and 30 seconds remained at this juncture, and, the Chiefs rolled 70 yards in five plays for Taylor's second touchdown of the evening on a 29-yard toss from Dawson.

More excitement still remained before intermission. When Gordon fumbled the next kickoff and Jim Lynch recovered for the Chiefs, Jan Stenerud had just enough time to kick a 29-yard field goal.

When they came out for the second half, Bukich took a seat on the bench and Larry Rakestraw went in at quarterback for the Bears, who had announced just before game time that Jack Concannon would not play because of a sore arm.

Rakestraw's opening aerial offering was a 12-yard pass to Johnny Morris. His second was batted down by monstrous Buck Buchanan. His third was an interception, peeled out of the air by Sherrill Headrick and returned to the Kansas City 37. From there, the Chiefs drove 63 yards in six plays to Gene Thomas' 3-yard touchdown.

Rakestraw then took the Bears on a right respectable march of their own, even considering that the Kansas City defense by now was dotted with reserves. With Rakestraw hitting Morris on two key passes, Halas' club moved 83 yards in seven plays. Kurek bombed thru the middle from 32 yards out to score.

After Beathard and Richardson had hooked up on an 80-yard touchdown pass play, Rakestraw again took the Bears on a lengthy touchdown drive. This one covered 80 yards and was climaxed by Piccolo's 1-yard scoring burst.

Two minutes remained in the game, but somebody on the Chiefs still hadn't scored. His name was Noland Smith, and he returned the next kickoff 99 yards to a touchdown.

The Chiefs got still another score when linebacker Smokey Stover intercepted a final Rakestraw offering and Beathard bootlegged the ball in from the 2.

Gale Sayers' return to the Kansas City area was not exactly a heart warming experience for the Kansas Comet, who was limited to 35 yards in 10 carries.

Before tonight's debacle, the most points ever scored against the Bears were the 52 amassed by the Baltimore Colts in 1964 and the 52 posted by the San Francisco 49ers in 1965. Both came in regular season play.

The most points the Bears bad surrendered in preseason play prior to tonight were 42 run up by the Los Angeles Rams in 1951.

The Chiefs' 66 points were their most ambitious production since they were born seven years ago in Dallas

Gayle Sayers carries against the Chiefs

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

CHI- FG Alford 35

KC- Taylor 70 yard pass from Dawson (Stenerud kick)

Second Quarter

KC- Buford 11 yard pass from Dawson (Stenerud kick)

KC- Garrett 1 run (McClinton pass from Dawson)

KC- Richardson 11 yard pass from Dawson (Stenerud kick)

CHI- Gordon 103 yard kickoff return (Alford kick)

KC- Taylor 29 yard pass from Dawson (Stenerud kick)

KC- FG Stenerud 29

Third Quarter

KC- Thomas 3  run (Stenerud kick)

CHI- Kurek 32 run (Alford kick)

Fourth Quarter

KC- Richardson 80 yard pass from Beathard (Stenerud kick)

CHI- Piccolo 1 run (Alford kick)

KC- N. Smith 99 yard kickoff return (Stenerud kick)

KC- Beathard 2 run (run failed)

Att-33,041

RETURN