1957 San Francisco 49ers season

1957 San Francisco 49ers season
Head coach Frankie Albert
Home field Kezar Stadium
Results
Record 8–4–0
Division place T-1st NFL Western
Playoff finish Lost to Detroit Lions
in Conference playoff
Uniform

The 1957 San Francisco 49ers season was the team's eighth season in the NFL. Coming off a 5–6–1 record in 1956, the 49ers tied for the best record in the Western Conference at 8–4.

San Francisco continued their late season success from the previous year, and won five of their first six games and were in first place in the West midway through the season. The Niners then lost three straight on the road to drop to 5–4, but then won the final three games to close out the season at 8–4, their best season since 1953.

The 49ers tied with the Detroit Lions at the top of the Western Conference, and split their two regular season games in November, with the home teams winning. This forced a tie-breaking playoff game at Kezar Stadium on December 22. The winner would host the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Browns for the NFL championship the following week.

The 49ers built a 24–7 lead at halftime, and extended it to twenty points in the third quarter. Detroit's hall of fame quarterback Bobby Layne had been lost for the season two weeks earlier,[1] and backup Tobin Rote lead the Lions' rally, scoring 24 unanswered points in the second half to win, 31–27, which ended the 49ers' season.[2]

Eight weeks earlier on October 27, 49ers' owner Tony Morabito, age 47, suffered a heart attack in the press box at Kezar during the second quarter of the game against the Chicago Bears.[3] He died shortly after arriving at Mary's Help Hospital on Guerrero Street.[4] The team was notified of his death at halftime, and with tears in their eyes, they went back out and won a come-from-behind victory.[5]

Quarterback Y. A. Tittle had another strong season for the 49ers, completing 63.1% of his passes for 2157 yards and 13 TD's. He also rushed for 6 TD's. End Billy Wilson led the club with 52 receptions for 757 yards, along with a team high 6 TD's. Running back Hugh McElhenny led in rushing with 478 yards on 102 attempts.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Pick #NFL TeamPlayerPositionCollege
3San Francisco 49ersJohn Brodie [6]QuarterbackStanford

Regular season

Schedule

#DateVisitorScoreHomeRecordAttendance
1September 29Chicago Cardinals20–10San Francisco 49ers0–1–035,743
2October 6Los Angeles Rams23–20San Francisco 49ers1–1–059,637
3October 13San Francisco 49ers21–17Chicago Bears2–1–045,310
4October 20San Francisco 49ers24–14Green Bay Packers3–1–018,919
5October 27Chicago Bears21-17San Francisco 49ers4–1–056,693
6November 3Detroit Lions35-31San Francisco 49ers5–1–059,702
7November 10San Francisco 49ers37–24Los Angeles Rams5–2–0102,368
8November 17San Francisco 49ers31–10Detroit Lions5–3–056,915
9November 24San Francisco 49ers27–21Baltimore Colts5–4–050,073
10December 1San Francisco 49ers27–17New York Giants6–4–054,121
11December 8Baltimore Colts17–13San Francisco 49ers7–4–059,950
12December 15Green Bay Packers27–20San Francisco 49ers8–4–059,100

Standings

NFL Western Conference
W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
Detroit Lions 8 4 0 .667 6–4 251 231 W3
San Francisco 49ers 8 4 0 .667 7–3 260 264 W3
Baltimore Colts 7 5 0 .583 6–4 303 235 L2
Los Angeles Rams 6 6 0 .500 5–5 307 278 W2
Chicago Bears 5 7 0 .417 4–6 203 211 L1
Green Bay Packers 3 9 0 .250 2–8 218 311 L3

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

Western Conference Playoff

DateVisitorScoreHomeAttendance
December 22Detroit Lions31–27San Francisco 49ers60,118

References

  1. ↑ "Lions lose Layne but win, 20-7". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. December 9, 1957. p. 26.
  2. ↑ "Lions thrilling rally wins playoff, 31-27". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. p. 20.
  3. ↑ "Morabito dies of heart attack". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. October 28, 1957. p. 12, part 2.
  4. ↑ "Morabito, 49ers, dies". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. October 28, 1957. p. 26.
  5. ↑ Rosenbaum, Art (November 4, 1957). "Tony Morabito, The Autocrat Of The San Francisco 49ers, Ran His Team With A Belligerent Disdain For Outsiders. But He Loved His Team, And Last Week He Died As He Would Have Wished—watching Them Take The Division Lead". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 398
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