SF 49ers: 10 most painful playoff losses in franchise history
By Peter Panacy
No. 5: SF 49ers 1957 divisional loss to Lions
Final Score: Lions 31, SF 49ers 27
It’s time to go way back into the SF 49ers’ historical archives, long before the modern-football era and back when Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle was becoming a league legend.
Despite Tittle’s lengthy accolade list that got him into Canton, he only got into the postseason once with the Niners and just five times over his otherwise storied career, and each one of those games ended up being losses.
The worst of the bunch, and No. 5 on this list, was the 1957 divisional round against the Detroit Lions — a game that saw San Francisco get out to a commanding 27-7 lead in the third quarter. Tittle had tossed three touchdowns up to that point, and there were few signs of life from Detroit’s offense.
But that all changed in the third quarter.
The Lions defense ended up intercepting Tittle three times, then Detroit scored 24 unanswered points after the SF 49ers tacked on their final points of the game, a field goal early in the third frame.
Detroit’s game-winning field goal late in the fourth quarter was the dagger, giving the Lions the victory and putting a cap on what’s still one of the Niners’ biggest postseason collapses in playoff history.