1964 What Stopped the Green Bay Packers

[LeonardRachiele]

The 1964 Green Bay Packers were a solid team in every respect except one-placekicking.  Paul Hornung returned from a year's suspension. While his running, pass receiving, and blocking skill remained intact, his kicking was atrocious.  It was the worst ever seen in modern times.  Paul made only 12 of 39 field goals and missed five extra points.  Here were the misfires in this 8-5-1 season:

Week 2-Baltimore at home-missed five field goals and an extra point.  Lost 21 to 20

Week 4-Minnesota at home-missed an extra point. Lost 24 to 23.

Week 11-at Baltimore-missed five field goals. Lost 24 to 21.

Had Hornung been on target, Green Bay would have won the Western Conference with a 10-2-2 record; and Baltimore second at 10-4.  On the plus side, the Packers won both games with the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions.  These two teams denied Green Bay the title the previous year.

More important, the Packers got one of their biggest regular season victories.  It was in week 11 at home against the Cleveland Browns.   The Browns record was 8-1-1 and they had won five consecutive games.  Green Bay was only average at 5-5.  This game showed, once again,  the big measures of which team wins. Green Bay sacked Cleveland quarterback Frank Ryan five times for 33 yards in losses; they intercepted two passes; and recovered two fumbles.   Bart Starr had all day to pass and the Packers did not have a turnover.  Final Packers 28 Browns 21.

The Cleveland Browns went on to win the NFL Championship.

[RichardBak]

Actually, Hornung was 12/38 in FG and missed 2 XP, not 5. However, as you point out, those 2 misses cost the Pack a pair of ties. And if Hornung had just converted 1 of those FG misses vs. Baltimore, Green Bay would have been entering November with an unbeaten 3-0-3 record.

Interestingly, Hornung had started the 1964 season with 3 FG against the Bears, including a team-record 52-yarder on a free kick. But he then suffered a groin pull which greatly affected his accuracy and range, leading to those 2 losses to the Colts and a third loss to the Vikings. In game 5, the 1-3 Packers beat SF, but after Hornung missed a couple more FGs Lombardi inserted Willie Wood. Wood converted his only XP try but missed a 33-yd FG at end of 1st half. Hornung came back in the second half, was successful on a couple XPs and also added a FG. He didn't miss another XP the rest of the season.

Where was the relief kicker, Jerry Kramer, in all this? He'd had surgery and played only 2 games. Lombardi might've used him exclusively as a kicker instead of putting him back on the O-line, but the docs said Kramer was not to kick anymore. Lombardi was desperate enough to consider using Jimmy Taylor, but he wound up bringing ageless Ben Agajanian in to help Hornung's form and confidence. Hornung admitted his poor kicking was "one of those psychological things. I'm kicking like an amateur."

Lombardi got Don Chandler the following year and the Pack went on to win 3 straight titles.

[JohnTurney]

Hornung and Jerry Kramer,

Ruppert Patrick wrote about his in his PAL book on kicking...how many games those two cost
in 63 and 64 . . . those were among 2 worst kickings seasons ever