1964 Green Bay Packers season

1964 Green Bay Packers season
Head coach	Vince Lombardi
General manager	Vince Lombardi
Home field	City Stadium Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record	8–5–1
Division place	2nd NFL Western
Playoff finish	Lost in Playoff Bowl (Cardinals, 24–17)

The 1964 Green Bay Packers season was their 45th season in the National Football League. The club was led by sixth-year head coach Vince Lombardi, and tied for second place in the Western Conference at 8–5–1.

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 83 years ago in 1933, no other team was won three straight NFL titles.

The NFL classifies the ten editions of the Playoff Bowl as exhibition games, not postseason contests.

Offseason

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

Regular 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 21–20	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 24–23	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 24–21	3–3	Memorial Stadium	60,213
7	October 25	Los Angeles Rams	L 27–17	3–4	Milwaukee County Stadium	47,617
8	November 1	at Minnesota Vikings	W 42–13	4–4	Metropolitan Stadium	44,278
9	November 8	Detroit Lions	W 30–7	5–4	City Stadium	42,327
10	November 15	at San Francisco 49ers	L 24–14	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

Week 11: vs. Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers 28, Cleveland Browns 21

	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
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	12	2	0	.857	10–2	428	225	W1
Green Bay Packers	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.

Playoff Bowl

Season	Date	Winner	Score	Runner up	Venue	Attendance
1964	January 3, 1965	St. Louis Cardinals	24–17	Green Bay Packers	Orange Bowl	56,218

Source:^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

Awards and records

• Bart Starr, NFL Leader, Passing Yards, (2,144 yards)

References

1. Lea, Bud (September 14, 1964). "Packers hammer Bears, 23-12!". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 4, part 2.
2. "Packer smash Bears by 23-12". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. September 14, 1964. p. 34.
3. Lea, Bud (October 26, 1964). "Rams' rally rips Packers, 27-17". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 3, part 2.
4. "Colts jar Rams, 24-7, to clinch Western title". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. November 23, 1965. p. 4, part 2.
5. "Colts clinch title; Bears beat 49ers". Chicago Tribune. UPI. November 23, 1964. p. 1, section 3.
6. "Packers win spot in Bowl". Eugene Register-Guard (Oregon). Associated Press. December 14, 1964. p. 4B.
7. Lea, Bud (January 6, 1964). "Starr-led Packers bomb Browns". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 2, part 2.
8. "Packers cuff Browns, 40-23". Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 6, 1964. p. 12.
9. Lea, Bud (January 4, 1965). "Cards blunt Packers' rally, 24-17". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 2, part 2.
10. Johnson, Chuck (January 4, 1965). "Packers season ends as it began; Cardinals win in an exhibition". Milwaukee Journal. p. 8, part 2.
11. "'Peanuts' leads Cards to victory". Eugene Register-Guard (Oregon). Associated Press. January 4, 1965. p. 3B.
12. Segreti, James (January 4, 1965). "Cards outlast Packers in runner-up bowl, 24-17". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, section 3.
13. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 369

• Sportsencyclopedia.com