# 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.
The Packers opened the season in Green Bay with a promising win over the rival Chicago Bears, the defending NFL champions. 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.
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. Based on point differential in the season split with the Vikings, the Packers were awarded the runner-up slot in the Playoff Bowl, 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, 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.
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.

## 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 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:

### Season summary
#### Week 1 vs Bears

| 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

| 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

| 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

## Standings

NFL Western Conference :
| viewtalkedit | 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.
* ↑ Green Bay was awarded the Playoff Bowl berth from the Western Conference by outscoring Minnesota 65–37 in their two meetings.

## Playoff Bowl

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

## Awards and records

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