1957 Detroit Lions season

1957 Detroit Lions season
OwnerDetroit Football Company
General managerNick Kerbawy
Head coachGeorge Wilson
Home fieldBriggs Stadium
Results
Record8–4
Division place1st NFL Western (playoff)
Playoff finishWon Conference Playoff
(at 49ers) 31–27
Won NFL Championship
(vs. Browns) 59–14
Pro Bowlers
7
AP All-Pros
5

The 1957 Detroit Lions season was the franchise's 28th season in the National Football League (NFL) and their 24th as the Detroit Lions. Under first-year head coach George Wilson, the Lions won their fourth and most recent NFL title.[1][2][3][4]

In the penultimate regular season game with the Cleveland Browns on December 8, Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne was lost for the season with a broken right ankle. With backup Tobin Rote in at quarterback in the second quarter,[5] the Lions won that game and overcame a ten-point deficit at halftime the following week to defeat the Chicago Bears 21–13, whom they had lost to three weeks earlier at home.[6] They ended the regular season with three consecutive wins and an 8–4 record. All four losses were within the Western Conference, splitting the two games with all but the Green Bay Packers, whom they swept.

Detroit tied with the San Francisco 49ers (8–4) for the conference title, which required a tiebreaker playoff game. Played at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco on December 22, the 49ers entered the game as three-point favorites.[7] Down by twenty points in the third quarter, Detroit rallied with a 24–0 run to win 31–27.[8] This also marks the last time the Lions have won a playoff game away from home; they are 0–12 on the road in NFL postseason games since.

The Lions were home underdogs for the NFL championship game against Cleveland.[9] Played on December 29 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, the Lions led 17–0 after the first quarter and won in a rout, 59–14.[1][2][3][4] Through the 2023 season, the Lions have yet to win, or even return to, another NFL title game (including the Super Bowl), an absence of more than sixty years. It is the fourth-longest drought in all four major sports, and the second-longest in the NFL, behind the Arizona Cardinals (1947, when the team was still based in Chicago), although the Cardinals, unlike the Lions, have subsequently appeared in the Super Bowl.

  1. ^ a b Johnson, Chuck (December 30, 1957). "Rote's passes, play calling smash Cleveland, 59 to 14". Milwaukee Journal. p. 7, part 2.
  2. ^ a b Sell, Jack (December 30, 1957). "Lions crush Browns, 59 to 14, to win title". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 18.
  3. ^ a b Jones, Eddie T. (December 30, 1957). "Browns show off collapsing defense". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 11.
  4. ^ a b Maule, Tex (January 6, 1958). "All hail the lusty Lions". Sports Illustrated. p. 8.
  5. ^ "Lions lose Layne but win, 20-7". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 9, 1957. p. 26.
  6. ^ "Lions uphill fight whips Bears, 21-13". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 16, 1957. p. 31.
  7. ^ "49ers 3-point choice today". Milwaukee Sentinel. INS. December 22, 1957. p. 1C.
  8. ^ "Lions thrilling rally wins playoff, 31-27". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. p. 20.
  9. ^ Lea, Bud (December 29, 1957). "Lions face Browns for pro title". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1C.