The 1957 NFL Championship Game was the 25th annual

championship game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

of 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 ...

(NFL), held on December 29 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 ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. 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 ...

(8–4), winners of the Western Conference in a

playoff 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 ...

the previous week, hosted 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 ...

(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 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 ...

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 professional football player who was a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadia ...

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

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and the

tiebreaker playoff In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

game at

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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

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

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

, and

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. 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 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, this was the last time that major professional teams from

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

met in a postseason game (or series) in any sport. This was 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 2005 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...

until

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 ...

as the Lions' other two home playoff games prior (

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

) were at the

Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, the fi ...

in suburban

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

. This also remains as the Lions' fourth and most recent league title and most recent championship appearance (including the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

) as of

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, starting a sixty-eight year championship drought for the Lions, which is currently the fourth-longest championship drought in the four major North American sports leagues.

Starting lineups

Players in the Hall of Fame

Of those listed above, Lions' QB

was injured earlier in the month and did not play, and future Green Bay Packers defensive tackle

Henry Jordan the Virginia Cavaliers Henry Wendell Jordan (January 26, 1935 – February 21, 1977) was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cleveland Browns ...

was a rookie for the Browns.

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

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 Milton Ross Plum (born January 20, 1935) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns (1957–1961), Detroit Lions (1962–1967), Los Angeles Rams (1968) and New York Giants (1969) of the Nati ...

, 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 James Nathaniel Brown (February 17, 1936 – May 18, 2023) was an American professional American football, football player, civil rights activist, and actor. He played as a Fullback (gridiron football), fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the ...

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 Eugene William Gedman (January 9, 1932 – August 19, 1974) was an American football player, a running back for four seasons with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), 1953 and 1956 through 1958. The Lions won league titles i ...

1-yard run (Martin kick), 17–0 DET *Second quarter **CLE –

29-yard run (

Lou Groza Louis Roy Groza (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000), nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional American football, football Tackle (gridiron football position), offensive tackle and placekicker while playing his entire career for th ...

kick), 17–7 DET **DET – Steve Junker 26-yard pass from Rote (Martin kick), 24–7 DET **DET –

Terry Barr Terry Albert Barr (August 8, 1935 – May 28, 2009) was an American football player. He played professional football for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions from 1957 to 1965. He began his NFL career as a d ...

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 h ...

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

Jim Doran James Robert Doran (August 11, 1927 – June 30, 1994) was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions (1951–1959) and Dallas Cowboys (1960–1961). He played college football for ...

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 American football, football Halfback (American football), halfback and Wide receiver, split end who played in the National Football League (NF ...

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 John Don Looney (September 2, 1916 – April 5, 2015) was a professional American football end in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the eighth round of the 1940 NFL draft. He played three seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles ...

*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 fat ...

*Alternate: Chuck Sweeney 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

) 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 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, and their last postseason home game and victory until

. 1992 was also the first time the Lions advanced as far as the NFC Championship game, losing the

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Ame ...

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, who went on to win

Super Bowl XXVI Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

. They would advance to the NFC Championship game again 32 years later in

, where they would fall to the

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 ...

34–31 after leading by as many as 17 points, which is the closest the Lions have ever gotten to a Super Bowl to date.

Video

* Daniel G. Endy (ed.)
"Detroit Lions vs. Cleveland Browns in Football's World Championship: Part 1,"
Earl Gillespie and Chris Schenkel, narrators. YouTube.com
Part 2

References

--> {{DEFAULTSORT:1957 NFL Championship Game 1957 NFL season, Championship Game, 1957 NFL Championship games Cleveland Browns postseason Detroit Lions postseason

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football league (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national ...

December 1957 sports events in the United States 1957 in Detroit American football competitions in Detroit