Home/Road Conference title game notes

I woke up in the middle of last night and in my head, gathered these home team notes concerning title games, with the winners gaining an appearance in the Super Bowl.

Yesterday for the third straight season both home teams won in the conference title tilts.

There now have been 100 title tilts contested, in which the game winner advanced to the Super Bowl.

The home team sports a (66-34) record (only 67 wins would have been closer to but of course not exactly “two thirds,” sorry to invoke “fractions” especially for those who struggled with them in math classes past) in those games.

The one home and one road team winning result, in the title tilts has happened the most often, 26 times, including eight straight seasons (1998-2005).

Yesterday was the 20th time both home teams won.

Only four times have both road teams won, including the first year of Super Bowl play, 1966. The other years were 1992, 1997 and 2012.

For the record in the six pre Super Bowl seasons (1960-1965), in which there were AFL and NFL title tilts, the home team went (8-4). NFL home teams were (5-1) in those title games, AFL teams (3-3).

Three times both home teams won, twice the home teams split and once in 1962 both road teams won. Highlighting one team, in three of the five seasons over this 56 year period that both road teams won the title tilts the NFL or NFC winner was Green Bay (Packers).

Green Bay Packers’ defensive back Tom Brown’s interception clinched the 1966 NFL title game victory for the Packers vs the Dallas Cowboys. Linebacker Dave Robinson applied great pressure on Dallas “Q.B.” Don Meredith and Brown, also a baseball player with whom coach Vince Lombardi liked to converse about the then great sport/league, easily intercepted.

Similarly yesterday with the opponent needing a “conversion of the play”(in 1966, Dallas trailed (34-27) and needed a touchdown, yesterday New England trailed Denver (20-18) and needed a 2 point conversion) the Broncos pressured the great New England quarterback Tom Brady and defensive back Bradley Roby intercepted.

In “searching” for Tom Brown, whom I knew had that interception, at first, similarly spelled “Tom Br”ady appeared.