1957 San Francisco 49ers

The 1957 San Francisco 49ers season was the team's eighth season in the NFL, and were coming off a 5-6-1 record in 1956, however, they ended the season with a 5 game unbeaten streak, and tied for the Western Conference Championship.

San Francisco would continue their late season success from the previous year, and would win 5 of their first 6 games and sit in 1st place in the Western Conference. The Niners would then lose 3 in a row on the road to drop to a 5-4-0 record, however, a 3 game winning streak to close out the season would see San Francisco finish with an 8-4-0 record, their best season since 1953. The 49ers finished tied with the Detroit Lions at the top of the Western Conference, which would set up a tie-breaking playoff game at Kezar Stadium, with the winner of the game to face the Cleveland Browns for the NFL Championship. The Lions would win a very close game by a 31-27 score, and end both the 49ers season and their quest for their first title.

Tony
Sadly, 49ers owner Anthony J. (Tony) Morabito Jr. died of a heart attack, during the second quarter of the October 27 game against the Bears at Kezar. 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.

Top Players
Y.A. Tittle had another strong season for the team, completing 63.1% of his passes for 2157 yards and 13 TD's. Tittle would also rush for 6 TD's. Billy Wilson would lead the club with 52 receptions and 757 yards, along with a team high 6 TD's. Hugh McElhenny had a club best 478 rushing yards on 102 attempts.