The

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

season resulted in a tie for the Western Conference championship between the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. 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 A one-game playoff, sometimes known as a pennant playoff, tiebreaker game or knockout game, is a tiebreaker in certain sports—usually but not always professional—to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a ...

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. The Lions moved on to host the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

on December 29 in the championship game, and won in a 59–14 rout at

Briggs Stadium Tiger Stadium, previously known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium, was a multi-use stadium located in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The stadium was nicknamed "The Corner" for its location at the intersection of ...

for their third title in six years. Through

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, it is Detroit's most recent league title, and fourth-most recent victory in a postseason game.

Tournament bracket

Western Conference championship

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. 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. Quarterback

Bobby Layne Robert Lawrence Layne (December 19, 1926 – December 1, 1986) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns before ...

had been lost for the season two weeks earlier, and backup Tobin Rote led the Lions' rally, scoring 24 unanswered points in the second half to win, 31–27, with

Tom Tracy John Thomas "the Bomb" Tracy (September 7, 1934 – January 24, 1996) was an American professional gridiron football, football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers and Wa ...

(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. The game was featured on NFL Top 10 as #2 on ''Top Ten Comebacks''. As of

, this is the last time the Lions have won a playoff game on the road.

NFL Championship game

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1957 NFL Playoffs NFL playoffs

Playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...