1964 AFL 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 |
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.
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. 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.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
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