Coming into the game, much like during the first Super Bowl, many sports writers and fans believed that any team in the NFL was vastly superior to any club in the AFL. The Packers, the defending champions, posted a 9–4–1 record during the 1967 NFL season before defeating the Dallas Cowboys, 21–17, in the 1967 NFL Championship Game (also popularly known as the "Ice Bowl"). The Raiders finished the 1967 AFL season at 13–1, and defeated the Houston Oilers, 40–7, in the 1967 AFL Championship Game.