At the end of the day, it might be foolhardy to compare Sunday’s New York Jets victory over a 1-5 Indianapolis Colts team to the January 12, 1969 victory on a site that now serves as the Miami Marlins’ ballpark.
That victory at the Miami Orange Bowl captured not only the tri-state area’s first Super Bowl but also gave legitimacy to an entire football league, as the Jets’ victory as an American Football League squad gave rise to the professional football circuit we witness to this day. It was a 16-7 slugfest over the Baltimore Colts, one punctuated by Joe Namath’s famous guarantee.