1964 American Football League season

1964 American Football League season
Regular season
Duration	September 12 – December 20, 1964
Playoffs
Date	December 26, 1964
Eastern Champion	Buffalo Bills
Western Champion	San Diego Chargers
Site	War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York
Champion	Buffalo Bills
American Football League seasons  < 1963 1965 >

The 1964 American Football League season was the fifth regular season of the American Football League.

The season ended when the Buffalo Bills defeated the San Diego Chargers in the AFL Championship game. Two years later, the AFL would join the NFL to form the AFL-NFL World Championship game, known today as the Super Bowl.

This was the final season of AFL telecasts on ABC before the games moved to NBC for the following season.

Division races

The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was tie in the standings, a playoff would be held to determine the division winner.

The Buffalo Bills won their first nine games, before Boston beat them at home on November 15, 36–28. Buffalo came back from a 24–14 deficit at San Diego on Thanksgiving Day to eke out a 27–24 win. On December 6 at Oakland, the Raiders beat the Bills on the final play of the game, 16–13, and did not try for an extra point.^[1] Boston won at Kansas City, 31–24, to take Buffalo's lead away. In Week Fourteen, Boston was idle, and Buffalo took a 1/2 game lead with a 30–19 win at Denver. As it turned out, the Eastern Division title would come down to the final game of the season, with Buffalo (11–2–0) traveling to Boston (10–2–1) on December 20, with the winner to take all. Jack Kemp led the Bills to three touchdowns for a 24–14 win to capture the title.

The Western Division race was less dramatic. In Week Six, the Chargers took a lead over the Chiefs during a six-game winning streak, and held that lead for the rest of the season.

Week	Eastern		Western
1	Tie (Bos, Buf, NYJ)	1–0–0	San Diego	1–0–0
2	Tie (Bos, Buf)	1–1–0	San Diego	1–1–0
3	Tie (Bos, Buf)	3–0–0	Kansas City	1–1–0
4	Tie (Bos, Buf)	4–0–0	Kansas City	2–1–0
5	Buffalo	5–0–0	Kansas City	2–2–0
6	Buffalo	6–0–0	San Diego	3–2–1
7	Buffalo	7–0–0	San Diego	4–2–1
8	Buffalo	8–0–0	San Diego	5–2–1
9	Buffalo	9–0–0	San Diego	6–2–1
10	Buffalo	9–1–0	San Diego	7–2–1
11	Buffalo	9–1–0	San Diego	7–2–1
12	Buffalo	10–1–0	San Diego	7–3–1
13	Boston	10–2–1	San Diego	8–3–1
14	Buffalo	11–2–0	San Diego	8–4–1
15	Buffalo	12–2–0	San Diego	8–5–1

Regular season

Results

Home/Road		Eastern Division				Western Division
		BOS	BUF	HOU	NY	DEN	KC	OAK	SD
Eastern	Boston Patriots		14–24	25–24	26–10	12–7	24–7	43–43	17–26
	Buffalo Bills	28–36		24–10	34–24	30–13	34–17	23–20	30–3
	Houston Oilers	17–34	17–48		33–17	34–15	19–28	42–28	17–20
	New York Jets	35–14	7–20	24–21		30–6	27–14	35–13	17–17
Western	Denver Broncos	10–39	19–30	17–38	20–16		33–27	20–20	20–31
	Kansas City Chiefs	24–31	22–35	28–7	24–7	49–39		42–7	14–28
	Oakland Raiders	14–17	16–13	20–10	35–26	40–7	9–21		21–20
	San Diego Chargers	28–33	24–27	27–21	38–3	42–14	6–49	31–17

Standings

AFL Eastern Division W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK Buffalo Bills 12 2 0 .857 5–1 400 242 W2 Boston Patriots 10 3 1 .769 4–2 365 297 L1 New York Jets 5 8 1 .385 2–4 278 315 L3 Houston Oilers 4 10 0 .286 1–5 310 355 W2 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

AFL Western Division W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK San Diego Chargers 8 5 1 .615 4–2 341 300 L2 Kansas City Chiefs 7 7 0 .500 4–2 366 306 W2 Oakland Raiders 5 7 2 .417 2–3–1 303 350 W2 Denver Broncos 2 11 1 .154 1–4–1 240 438 L2 Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

• AFL Championship Game

  Buffalo Bills 20, San Diego Chargers 7, December 26, 1964, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo, New York

References

1. "Flores Flips Winner With 4 Seconds Left," The Fresno Bee, Dec 7, 1964, p8-B

External links

• Football Database