Broncos-Chiefs Game Featured on this Weekend's SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

When NFL passing leader and four-time MVP Peyton Manning and the 8-1 Denver Broncos host Alex Smith and the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs this weekend on NBC's Sunday Night Football, the meeting will be a matchup of historic significance.

This Contest between AFC West rivals is the first in 44 years - and the fifth in NFL history - between clubs with records of 9-0 and 8-1 or better.

Following is a look at the first four such matchups in NFL history:

· In 1969, the 11-0 Los Angeles Rams lost 20-13 to the 10-1 Minnesota Vikings, who played in the Super Bowl later that season. Two weeks earlier, the 9-0 Rams edged the 8-1 Dallas Cowboys by a 24-23 score.

· Eighty seasons ago, the Chicago Bears (11-0) defeated the Detroit Lions (10-1) on November 29, 1934 at University of Detroit Stadium, 19-16, on a two-yard touchdown pass from Bronko Nagurski to Bill Hewitt late in the fourth quarter. The Bears posted a 13-0 regular-season record before losing the NFL Championship Game 30-13 to the New York Giants. Nagurski was a 1963 charter enshrinee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while Hewitt was inducted in 1971.

· On November 24, 1929, the Green Bay Packers (9-0) behind Bo Molenda - who threw a touchdown pass, ran for another score and kicked two extra points - defeated the New York Giants (8-0-1) at the Polo Grounds. The 1929 Packers won the NFL championship with a 12-0-1 record.

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