Oct. 11, 1964 - It was in the deck for the San Francisco 49ers to end a long Green Bay Packer domination before a record Wisconsin crowd of 47,380 County Stadium fans today.
But in the end, it was the Pack which held the highest card — Jim Taylor — and the San Franciscans’ ambitions were blunted for the sixth straight time, 24-14.
Taylor, a 215-pound battering ram who had to go it pretty much alone after his sidekick, Paul Hornung, had been put out of commission with a pinched nerve in his neck, crushed 49er hopes with two final quarter touchdowns.
The second was a 27-yard wriggler through the heart of the 49er defense and then a burst of speed which left all possible pursuit behind. This was the key blow, the one that wiped out a 14-10 49er lead when it looked as if the West Coasters might be on their way to an upset.
The Packers tacked on an insurance touchdown on an eight-yard Bart Starr-to-Boyd Dowler end zone pass with a couple of minutes remaining.
The rival coaches, San Francisco’s Jack Christiansen and Green Bay’s Vince Lombardi, offered contrasting views after the game.
Lombardi said he thought his Packers played a “good” game; Christiansen said the Packers were simply “great.”
Christiansen made a hasty exit from the 49er dressing room and, when finally run down on the team bus, offered only these terse comments:
“I think Green Bay’s got a great football team. They’ve got a great defensive team which should never allow an opponent to score on it. As for my own team’s play, I have no comment. The turning point in this game came on the opening kickoff.”
San Francisco quarterback John Brodie, who personally accounted for 231 of San Francisco’s 270 yards, said: “I thought we’d beat ‘em. We had both the ball and the lead in the second half. When you have the opportunity to win, you should take advantage of it. But you can’t take a thing away from Green Bay. Those two linebackers, [Ray] Nitschke and [Dan] Currie, were just tremendous.”
Hornung missed field-goal attempts from 16 and 35 yards before he was injured. He left the bench to kick a 21-yard field goal in the third period and 2 extra points in the last period. He said after the game his neck and shoulder “felt a little stiff,” but he added: “I think I’ll be ready to play Baltimore next week.”
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Σχόλια