1957 NFL playoffs
The 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.
The Lions moved on to host the Cleveland Browns on December 29 in the 1957 [NFL Championship Game|championship game], and won in a 59–14 rout at Briggs Stadium for their third title in six years. As of, it is Detroit's most recent league title, and fourth-most recent victory in a postseason game.
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 jubilant 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 goal line, 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 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 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 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. It was the largest comeback in a playoff game for 36 years.As of, this is the last time the Lions have won a playoff game on the road and is the last time the Lions won a conference championship. The only team in the four major North American leagues with a longer conference championship drought are the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, who last won a conference title in 1951 as the Rochester Royals, six years before Detroit’s last conference championship.