PROFILBARU.COM

1957 NFL playoffs
Dates	December 22–29, 1957
Season	1957
Teams	3
Games played	2
NFL Championship Game site	Briggs Stadium; Detroit, Michigan;
Defending champions	New York Giants; (did not qualify)
Champions	Detroit Lions
Runners-up	Cleveland Browns
Conference; runners-up	San Francisco 49ers;
NFL playoffs
← 1952	1958 →

The 1957 National Football League season resulted in a tie for the Western Conference championship between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers. Both finished at 8–4 and had split their two games during the regular season in November, with the home team winning each.

The tie thus required a one-game playoff to be held between the two teams. This conference championship game was played on December 22 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco; down 27–7 early in the second half, Detroit rallied with 24 unanswered points to win 31–27.^[1]

The Lions moved on to host the Cleveland Browns on December 29 in the championship game, and won in a 59–14 rout at Briggs Stadium for their third title in six years.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] Through 2024, it is Detroit's most recent league title, and fourth-most recent victory in a postseason game.

Tournament bracket

Western Conference playoff December 22			NFL Championship December 29

			E	Cleveland	14
W	Detroit	31	W	Detroit	59
W	San Francisco	27

Western Conference championship

Detroit Lions 31, San Francisco 49ers 27

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	0	7	14	10	31
49ers	14	10	3	0	27

at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, California

Date: December 22, 1957
Game time: 1:00 p.m. PST
Game attendance: 60,118

Game information

First Quarter
- SF – Owens 34 pass from Tittle (Soltau kick), SF 7–0
- SF – McElhenny 47 pass from Tittle (Soltau kick), SF 14–0
Second Quarter
- DET – Junker 4 pass from Rote (Martin kick), SF 14–7
- SF – Wilson 12 pass from Tittle (Soltau kick), SF 21–7
- SF – field goal Soltau 25, SF 24–7
Third Quarter
- SF – field goal Soltau 10, SF 27–7
- DET – Tracy 1 run (Martin kick), SF 27–14
- DET – Tracy 58 run (Martin kick), SF 27–21
Fourth Quarter
- DET – Gedman 2 run (Martin kick), DET 28–27
- DET – field goal Martin 13, DET 31–27

The Lions trailed the 49ers 24–7 at halftime, and were down twenty points in the third quarter. During halftime, Lions players were apparently motivated by the jubilent sounds coming out from the Niner locker room; gloating or not gloating, the Lions cited it as motivation for the second half.^[6] Hugh McElhenny went on a 71-yard run in the third quarter that saw him just short of the goalline, but San Francisco settled for a field goal not long after due to the Detroit defense. It was their last points of the season.^[7] Quarterback Bobby Layne had been lost for the season two weeks earlier,^[8] and backup Tobin Rote led the Lions' rally, scoring 24 unanswered points in the second half to win, 31–27, with Tom Tracy (a Detroit back who hadn't played in four games that played due to injury to John Henry Johnson) scoring two touchdowns. Gene Gedman, another back with little playing time for Detroit, scored the go-ahead touchdown in less than a minute into the fourth quarter. Y.A. Tittle threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter (the last to Roger Zatkoff) and lost a fumble in a disastrous fourth quarter for the 49ers, who had four turnovers in the final frame and saw Joe Perry suffer a broken jaw.^[9]^[1] The game was featured on NFL Top 10 as #2 on Top Ten Comebacks.^[10] As of 2024, this is the last time the Lions have won a playoff game on the road.