1964 Green Bay Packers season

The 1964 Green Bay Packers season was their 46th season overall and their 44th season in the National Football League. The team was led by sixth-year head coach Vince Lombardi, and tied for second place in the Western Conference at 8–5–1.

1964 Green Bay Packers season
General manager	Vince Lombardi
Head coach	Vince Lombardi
Home stadium	City Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record	8–5–1
Division place	2nd NFL Western
Playoffs	Lost NFL Playoff Bowl (vs. Cardinals) 17–24
← 1963 Packers seasons 1965 →

The Packers opened the season in Green Bay with a promising win over the rival Chicago Bears, the defending NFL champions.^[1][2] They then lost four of six, including three home games, and were 3–4 midway through the season, falling twice to the Baltimore Colts. The first three losses were by a total of five points, but the fourth on October 25, to the Los Angeles Rams in Milwaukee, was by ten and came after building a 17–0 lead.^[3]

In the season's latter half, Green Bay won five of six and tied the Rams in the finale to end 3½ games behind the Colts (12–2) in the West, tied for second with Minnesota. Baltimore clinched the Western title on November 22, with three games remaining.^[4][5] Based on point differential in the season split with the Vikings, the Packers were awarded the runner-up slot in the Playoff Bowl,^[6] the consolation third place game in Miami played three weeks after the regular season, on January 3.

Green Bay had played in the previous season's Playoff Bowl and won decisively,^[7][8] which followed consecutive league titles in 1961 and 1962, and three straight appearances in the championship game. In the 1964 season's third-place game, the St. Louis Cardinals prevailed over the unmotivated Packers, 24–17.^{[9][10][11][12]}

The 1964 season was arguably the most disappointing for Lombardi as a head coach. Consecutive appearances in the consolation Playoff Bowl, and the loss, keyed Lombardi and the Packers to win three consecutive NFL titles; the latter two followed by victories in the first two Super Bowls. Since the playoff era began 92 years ago in 1933, no other team was won three straight NFL titles.

For the first time since 1950, the Packers did not play on Thanksgiving Day. In the previous thirteen seasons they had played the Detroit Lions at Tiger Stadium, and went 3–9–1 (.269); with Lombardi as head coach, the record was 2–2–1 (.500), which included the sole loss in 1962. Green Bay next played on Thanksgiving in 1970 at the Cotton Bowl, which was the franchise's first-ever loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Hall of Fame right guard Jerry Kramer missed most of the season due to an intestinal condition. After multiple surgeries, it was rectified in May 1965 after sizable wood fragments from a teenage accident a dozen years earlier were removed.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1964 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School
1	13	Lloyd Voss	Defensive end	Nebraska
2	27	Jon Morris	Center	Holy Cross
3	36	Ode Burrell	Back	Mississippi State
3	40	Joe O'Donnell	Guard	Michigan
3	41	Tommy Crutcher	Linebacker	TCU
4	44	Bob Long	Wide receiver	Wichita State
4	55	Paul Costa	Tackle	Notre Dame
5	60	Duke Carlisle	Quarterback	Texas
5	69	Steve Wright	Offensive tackle	Alabama
7	97	Dick Herzing	Tackle	Drake
8	111	Ken Bowman	Center	Wisconsin
9	125	John McDowell	Offensive Tackle	St. John's (MN)
10	139	Allen Jacobs	Back	Utah
11	153	Jack Petersen	Tackle	Nebraska-Omaha
12	167	Dwain Bean	Back	North Texas State
13	181	Jack Mauro	Tackle	Northern Michigan
14	195	Tom O'Grady	End	Northwestern
15	209	Alex Zerko	Tackle	Kent State
16	223	Andrew Ireland	Back	Utah
17	237	Len St. Jean	End	Northern Michigan
18	251	Mike Hicks	Guard	Marshall
19	265	John Baker	End	Norfolk State
20	279	Bill Curry	Center	Georgia Tech

• Yellow indicates a future Pro Bowl selection

Roster

1964 Green Bay Packers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 15 Bart Starr 12 Zeke Bratkowski Running backs (RB)  5 Paul Hornung 25 Tom Moore 22 Elijah Pitts 31 Jim Taylor Wide receivers (WR) 86 Boyd Dowler 80 Bob Long 85 Max McGee Tight ends (TE) 81 Marv Fleming 88 Ron Kramer

Offensive linemen (OL) 57 Ken Bowman C 75 Forrest Gregg T 67 Dan Grimm G 78 Norm Masters T 73 John McDowell T 76 Bob Skoronski T 63 Fuzzy Thurston G 72 Steve Wright T Defensive linemen (DL) 82 Lionel Aldridge DE 87 Willie Davis DE 79 Dave Hanner DT 74 Henry Jordan DT 77 Ron Kostelnik DT 71 Lloyd Voss DT

Linebackers (LB) 61 Gene Breen 60 Lee Roy Caffey OLB 37 Tommy Crutcher 58 Dan Currie 66 Ray Nitschke ILB 89 Dave Robinson OLB Defensive backs (DB) 26 Herb Adderley CB 40 Tom Brown S 46 Hank Gremminger 43 Doug Hart SS/CB 21 Bob Jeter CB 47 Jesse Whittenton 24 Willie Wood SS/PR Special teams (ST) 23 Jerry Norton P

Reserve 64 Jerry Kramer G Rookies in italics

Regular season

Main article: 1964 NFL season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 13	Chicago Bears	W 23–12	1–0	City Stadium	42,327
2	September 20	Baltimore Colts	L 20–21	1–1	City Stadium	42,327
3	September 28	at Detroit Lions	W 14–10	2–1	Tiger Stadium	59,203
4	October 4	Minnesota Vikings	L 23–24	2–2	City Stadium	42,327
5	October 11	San Francisco 49ers	W 24–14	3–2	Milwaukee County Stadium	47,380
6	October 18	at Baltimore Colts	L 21–24	3–3	Memorial Stadium	60,213
7	October 25	Los Angeles Rams	L 17–27	3–4	Milwaukee County Stadium	47,617
8	November 1	at Minnesota Vikings	W 42–13	4–4	Metropolitan Stadium	44,278
9	November 6	Detroit Lions	W 30–7	5–4	City Stadium	42,327
10	November 15	at San Francisco 49ers	L 14–24	5–5	Kezar Stadium	38,483
11	November 22	Cleveland Browns	W 28–21	6–5	Milwaukee County Stadium	48,065
12	November 29	at Dallas Cowboys	W 45–21	7–5	Cotton Bowl	44,975
13	December 5	at Chicago Bears	W 17–3	8–5	Wrigley Field	43,636
14	December 13	at Los Angeles Rams	T 24–24	8–5–1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	40,735

Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

Source:^[17]

Season summary

Week 1 vs Bears

See also: 1964 Chicago Bears season and Bears–Packers rivalry

Week One: Chicago Bears (0–0) at Green Bay Packers (0–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	3	9	0	12
Packers	7	10	3	3	23

at City Stadium, Green Bay, Wisconsin

• Date: September 13, 1964
• Game weather: 53 °F (12 °C)
• Game attendance: 42,327
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First quarter GB – Max McGee 11-yard pass from Bart Starr (Paul Hornung kick). Packers 7–0. Drive: Second quarter CHI – Bob Jencks 8-yard field goal. Packers 7–3. Drive: GB – Tom Moore 33-yard pass from Bart Starr (Paul Hornung kick). Packers 14–3. Drive: GB – Paul Hornung 52-yard field goal. Packers 17–3. Drive: Third quarter CHI – Bob Jencks 36-yard field goal. Packers 17–6. Drive: CHI – Mike Ditka 13-yard pass from Rudy Bukich (kick failed). Packers 17–12. Drive: GB – Paul Hornung 29-yard field goal. Packers 20–12. Drive: Fourth quarter GB – Paul Hornung 20-yard field goal. Packers 23–12. Drive: Top passers CHI – Rudy Bukich – 7/16, 83 yards, TD, 2 INT GB – Bart Starr – 8/16, 127 yards, 2 TD Top rushers CHI – Ronnie Bull – 8 rushes, 25 yards GB – Jim Taylor – 16 rushes, 79 yards Top receivers CHI – Mike Ditka – 7 receptions, 74 yards, TD GB – Ron Kramer – 3 receptions, 48 yards

Week 2 vs Colts

See also: 1964 Baltimore Colts season

Baltimore Colts (0–1) at Green Bay Packers (1–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Colts	7	14	0	0	21
Packers	7	6	7	0	20

at New City Stadium, Green Bay, Wisconsin

• Date: September 20
• Game weather: 65 °F (18 °C)
• Game attendance: 42,327
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter BAL – Lenny Moore 52-yard pass from Johnny Unitas (Lou Michaels kick). Colts 7–0. Drive: GB – Paul Hornung 20-yard run (Paul Hornung kick). Tie 7–7. Drive: Second quarter BAL – Lenny Moore 4-yard run (Lou Michaels kick). Colts 14–7. Drive: GB – Paul Hornung 4-yard run (kick failed). Colts 14–13. Drive: BAL – John Mackey 40-yard pass from Johnny Unitas (Lou Michaels kick). Colts 21–13. Drive: Third quarter GB – Jim Taylor 23-yard run (Paul Hornung kick). Colts 21–20. Drive: Fourth quarter No scoring Top passers BAL – Johnny Unitas – 7/12, 154 yards, 2 TD GB – Bart Starr – 16/21, 175 yards, 3 INT Top rushers BAL – Jerry Hill – 15 rushes, 49 yards GB – Jim Taylor – 18 rushes, 98 yards, TD Top receivers BAL – Lenny Moore – 1 reception, 52 yards, TD GB – Boyd Dowler – 7 receptions, 66 yards

Week 11: vs. Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers 28, Cleveland Browns 21

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	14	0	0	7	21
Packers	7	0	14	7	28

at Milwaukee County Stadium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• Date: November 22, 1964
• Game time: 1:00 p.m. CST
• Game weather: 15 °F (−9 °C), wind 15 mph (24 km/h), wind chill 0 °F (−18 °C)
• Game attendance: 48,065
• TV announcers (CBS): Ken Coleman (CLE) (second half) and Earl Gillespie (GB) (first half) (play-by-play), Warren Lahr (CLE) (second half) and Tony Canadeo (GB) (first half) (color commentators)
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First quarter CLE – Paul Warfield 48-yard pass from Frank Ryan (Lou Groza kick), CLE 7–0 GB   – Elijah Pitts 19-yard rush (Paul Hornung kick), tied 7–7 CLE – Jim Brown 1-yard rush (Groza kick), CLE 14–7 Second quarter no scoring Third quarter GB   – Jim Taylor 1-yard rush – (Hornung kick), tied 14–14 GB   – Bart Starr 4-yard rush (Hornung kick), GB 21–14 Fourth quarter GB   – Taylor 5-yard rush (Hornung kick), GB 28–14 CLE – Warfield 19-yard pass from Ryan (Groza kick), GB 28–21

Standings

NFL Western Conference
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	12	2	0	.857	10–2	428	225	W1
Green Bay Packers[a]	8	5	1	.615	6–5–1	342	245	T1
Minnesota Vikings	8	5	1	.615	6–5–1	355	296	W3
Detroit Lions	7	5	2	.583	6–4–2	280	260	W2
Los Angeles Rams	5	7	2	.417	3–7–2	283	339	T1
Chicago Bears	5	9	0	.357	5–7	260	379	L2
San Francisco 49ers	4	10	0	.286	3–9	236	330	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

1. Green Bay was awarded the Playoff Bowl berth from the Western Conference
   by outscoring Minnesota 65–37 in their two meetings.

Playoff Bowl

Main article: Playoff Bowl

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance
Playoff Bowl	January 3, 1965	St. Louis Cardinals	L 17–24	Orange Bowl	56,218

Source:^{[9][10][11][12][18]}

Awards and records

• Bart Starr, NFL leader, passing yards, (2,144 yards)