The 1957 NFL Championship Game was the 25th annual

championship game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

, held on December 29 at

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

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. The Detroit Lions (8–4), winners of the Western Conference, hosted the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

(9–2–1), champions of the Eastern Conference. Detroit had won the regular season game 20–7 three weeks earlier on December 8, also at Briggs Stadium, but lost quarterback

Bobby Layne Robert Lawrence Layne (December 19, 1926 – December 1, 1986) was an American football quarterback who played for 15 seasons in the National Football League. He played for the Chicago Bears in 1948, the New York Bulldogs in 1949, the Detroit ...

with a broken right ankle late in the first half. Reserve quarterback

Tobin Rote Tobin Cornelius Rote (January 18, 1928 – June 27, 2000) was an American football player who played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football Le ...

, a starter the previous year with Green Bay, filled in for Layne and won that game with Cleveland, the next week at

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and the tiebreaker playoff game at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It was the fourth pairing of the two teams in the championship game; they met previously in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

, and 1954. The Browns, idle the previous week, were favored by three points, but the home underdog Lions scored two touchdowns in each quarter and won in a rout, 59–14. Until 2006, this was the last time that major professional teams from

and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

met in a postseason game (or series) in any sport. As of 2022, this is the last NFL playoff game played in the city of

other than

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

in February 2006. The Lions' other two home playoff games since (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

) were at the Silverdome in suburban

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

. This also remains as the Lions' fourth and most recent league title and most recent championship appearance (including the Super Bowl) as of the 2021 season, starting a sixty-five year championship drought for the Lions.

Starting lineups

Players in the Hall of Fame

Twelve individuals (including coaches and administration) who were involved in this game are members of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

. Lions' QB

was injured earlier in the month and did not play.

Detroit Lions

*FB

John Henry Johnson John Henry Johnson (November 24, 1929 – June 3, 2011) was an American professional football player who was a running back. He was known for his excellence at the fullback position as both a runner and a blocker. His first professional stint ...

*C Frank Gatski *LT

Lou Creekmur Louis Creekmur (January 22, 1927 – July 5, 2009) was an American football offensive lineman. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Creekmur played professional football in the National Football League (NFL), principally a ...

*LB Joe Schmidt *DB Jack Christiansen *DB

Yale Lary Robert Yale Lary Sr. (November 24, 1930 – May 11, 2017) was an American football player, businessman, and politician. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979 and was also selected for the NFL 1950s All-Decade Team. He has al ...

*QB

Cleveland Browns

*FB Jim Brown *LT/K

Lou Groza Louis Roy Groza (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000), nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional football player who was a placekicker and offensive tackle while playing his entire career for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America F ...

*RT Mike McCormack *RDE

Len Ford Leonard Guy Ford Jr. (February 18, 1926 – March 14, 1972) was an American football player who played at the offensive and defensive end positions from 1948 to 1958. He played college football for the University of Michigan and professional f ...

*Head Coach/General Manager

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

Game summary

The home underdog Lions were without starting quarterback Layne due to a broken ankle three weeks earlier against the Browns. Backup quarterback

filled in admirably following Layne's injury, winning every game, including a 24-point rally in the tiebreaker playoff over the 49ers the previous week. In his eighth season, Rote threw four touchdown passes in the title game, completing 12 of 19 passes for 280 yards, and also ran for a touchdown. Browns quarterbacks Tommy O'Connell and Milt Plum, on the other hand hit on a combined total of 9 of 22 passes for 112 yards. Taking full advantage of a pass interception and a fumble, Detroit ran up a 17–0 lead in the first quarter. Rookie running back Jim Brown gave the Cleveland rooters some hope with a 29-yard touchdown run at the start of the second period. Things went from bad to worse for the Browns, hampered by injuries to quarterbacks O'Connell and Plum. The Lions romped for 14 points in each of the last three quarters,Chuck Heaton, ''Lions Crush Browns, 59–14'', Cleveland Plain Dealer December 29, 1957, Plain Dealer Browns' History Database Accessed December 12, 2007, http://www.cleveland.com/brownshistory/plaindealer/index.ssf?/browns/more/history/19571229BROWNS.html and won by 45 points, 59–14. In their final six quarters of play (including their previous divisional playoff), the Lions outscored their opponents 83-17.

Scoring summary

''Sunday, December 29, 1957''
Kickoff: 2:00 p.m. EST *First quarter **DET – FG Jim Martin, 31 yards, 3–0 DET **DET –

1-yard run (Martin kick), 10–0 DET **DET – Gene Gedman 1-yard run (Martin kick), 17–0 DET *Second quarter **CLE – Jim Brown 29-yard run (

kick), 17–7 DET **DET – Steve Junker 26-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 24–7 DET **DET – Terry Barr 19-yard interception (Martin kick), 31–7 DET *Third quarter **CLE –

Lew Carpenter Lewis Glen Carpenter (January 12, 1932 – November 14, 2010) was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the University of Arkansas and professionally for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) as a ...

5-yard run (Groza kick), 31–14 DET **DET –

Jim Doran James Robert Doran (August 11, 1927 – June 30, 1994) was a National Football League (NFL) wide receiver for the Detroit Lions (1951–1959) and the Dallas Cowboys (1960–1961). He played college football at Iowa State University. He was ...

78-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 38–14 DET **DET – Junker 23-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 45–14 DET *Fourth quarter **DET – Dave Middleton 32-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 52–14 DET **DET –

Howard Cassady Howard Albert "Hopalong" Cassady (March 2, 1934 – September 20, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a halfback and split end. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1955, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame ...

17-yard pass from Jerry Reichow (Martin kick), 59–14 DET

Officials

*Referee:

Ron Gibbs Ron Gibbs (born 14 April 1962), also known by the nickname of "Rambo", is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played professionally in Australia and England. An Australian Aboriginal and Country New South Wales representative three ...

*Umpire: Joe Connell *Head Linesman: Dan Tehan *Back Judge: Cleo Diehl *Field Judge: Don Looney *Alternate: George Rennix *Alternate: James Beiersdorfer *Alternate:

Charlie Berry Charles Francis Berry (October 18, 1902 – September 6, 1972) was an American athlete and sports official who enjoyed careers as a catcher and umpire in Major League Baseball and as an end and official in the National Football League. His fath ...

*Alternate:

Chuck Sweeney Charles A. "Chuck" Sweeney (May 5, 1914 – August 4, 1999) was an American football end at the University of Notre Dame. He was a consensus All-American in 1937. In later life, he became a National Football League game official. Playing career ...

The NFL had five game officials in ; the line judge was added in and the side judge in .

Players' shares

The gross receipts for the game, including radio and television rights, were just under $594,000, the highest to date. Each player on the winning Lions team received $4,295, while Browns players made $2,750 each.

Lions' last title

The Lions have not appeared in an NFL championship game (including the Super Bowl) since this title . It was their last postseason appearance until

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

, and their last postseason home game and victory until

. 1991 was also the only time the Lions have advanced as far as the Conference Championship game, losing the NFC Championship Game 41–10 to the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, who went on to win Super Bowl XXVI.

Video

YouTube
– 1957 NFL Championship - Lions vs. Browns - Vol. 1
YouTube
– 1957 NFL Championship - Lions vs. Browns - Vol. 2

References

--> {{DEFAULTSORT:1957 NFL Championship Game Championship Game, 1957 National Football League Championship games Cleveland Browns postseason Detroit Lions postseason NFL Championship December 1957 sports events in the United States 1957 in Detroit Sports competitions in Detroit American football in Detroit