Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered
The Jets play their final game at Shea Stadium. It also winds up being the final game for Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, whose elbow gives out after a touchdown pass and he never plays again. The Steelers win, 34-7, and the fans tear down the goalposts and everything else they can get their hands on as the Jets exit for New Jersey. (The NFL Network put together an awesome segment about the last Shea game.)
The Jets finish their 20 seasons at Shea with a 70-67-3 mark, plus a 1-2 record in the postseason (that one win clinched an AFL championship in 1968). They drew 7.7 million fans to Shea. The opening of the stadium in 1964 made the Jets—previously known as the doleful Titans—the most popular team in the AFL. Even before they signed Joe Willie Namath. Their Shea tenure was often turbulent, battling Mets ownership about perpetually opening the season on the road and not playing at home on October. The situation eventually took the Jets to court. And eventually to New Jersey. Like the planes flying over Shea, these Jets were heading out of air space. As one fan’s sign said that last day at Shea: “Good luck in the swamp.”