Fifteen years ago this Friday, the most talked-about moment of an NFL Sunday came after the final whistle. On October 16, 2011, at Ford Field in Detroit, Jim Harbaugh’s San Francisco 49ers beat Jim Schwartz’s Detroit Lions 25-19, handing the 5-0 Lions their first loss of the season. Then the two head coaches met at midfield.
Harbaugh, six games into his first NFL head-coaching job, came over shouting and celebrating, gave Schwartz a hard slap-and-grab handshake and a pat on the back, and kept running. Schwartz chased him toward the tunnel, players and staff jumped in between them, and a postgame handshake turned into the clip of the week.
Two surprise teams, one unbeaten
Detroit had gone 0-16 in 2008, the year before Schwartz arrived. By mid-October 2011 the Lions were 5-0 and riding a nine-game winning streak that went back to the end of 2010. San Francisco, 6-10 the year before, came in at 4-1 under a coach who had just left Stanford. A crowd of 62,061 filled Ford Field for a 1 p.m. kickoff, with Mike Carey as referee.
Detroit started fast. Jason Hanson kicked a 25-yard field goal, and Matthew Stafford hit tight end Brandon Pettigrew for a 16-yard touchdown on third-and-10 to make it 10-0 late in the first quarter.
The challenge flag that cost 15 yards
On that Pettigrew touchdown, Harbaugh threw his red flag. Under the 2011 rules, scoring plays were reviewed automatically by the replay official, a change that was new that season, and a coach who challenged one was flagged. The play-by-play reads: “Penalty charged for challenging an unchallengable play.” San Francisco was charged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Schwartz was seen shouting across the field.
The irony came a year later. On Thanksgiving 2012, Schwartz threw his own flag on an 81-yard Justin Forsett touchdown run against Houston that replay showed should have ended after seven yards. Under the same rule, his flag meant the play could not be reviewed, and the touchdown stood. In March 2013, owners passed what became known as the Jim Schwartz rule: the play gets reviewed anyway, and the team that threw the flag loses a timeout. The 2026 rulebook still works that way. A team that challenges when it is not allowed to is charged a timeout, and it is a 15-yard foul only if the team has no timeouts left. Our coach’s challenge and replay guide has the full 2026 rule.
Aldon Smith’s safety and David Akers’ 55-yarder
San Francisco came back in the second quarter. Frank Gore scored from a yard out on the first play of the period to make it 10-7. With 7:50 left in the half, rookie Aldon Smith sacked Stafford in the end zone for a safety, making it 10-9. On the last snap of the half, David Akers made a 55-yard field goal for a 12-10 49ers lead at halftime.
The third quarter ended with one field goal each: Hanson from 24 yards and Akers from 31. Early in the fourth, Stafford found Nate Burleson for a 5-yard touchdown and a 19-15 Detroit lead. The two-point try to Calvin Johnson failed, and that missed point mattered later.
Fourth-and-goal from the 6
San Francisco took over at the Detroit 35 after a 40-yard Ted Ginn Jr. punt return with 5:29 left. Kendall Hunter and Gore ran the ball down to the 7. A three-yard loss, a 4-yard catch by Michael Crabtree and an incompletion left San Francisco facing fourth-and-goal from the 6 with under two minutes to go.
Harbaugh kept his offense on the field. Alex Smith threw short to the right for tight end Delanie Walker, who reached the goal line for a 6-yard touchdown with 1:56 left. The replay assistant reviewed whether he broke the plane, and the call stood. Akers’ extra point made it 22-19.
Detroit went four-and-out from its own 20. Gore then ran three straight times as the Lions burned all three timeouts, and Akers made a 37-yard field goal with 1:06 left for the 25-19 final. Detroit’s last drive began with a sack and ended on a desperation lateral as time ran out.
| Qtr | Time | Team | Score | SF | DET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11:39 | DET | Jason Hanson 25-yard field goal | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | 4:50 | DET | Brandon Pettigrew 16-yard pass from Matthew Stafford (Hanson kick) | 0 | 10 |
| 2 | 15:00 | SF | Frank Gore 1-yard run (David Akers kick) | 7 | 10 |
| 2 | 7:50 | SF | Safety: Aldon Smith sacks Stafford in the end zone | 9 | 10 |
| 2 | 0:05 | SF | Akers 55-yard field goal | 12 | 10 |
| 3 | 11:45 | DET | Hanson 24-yard field goal | 12 | 13 |
| 3 | 9:27 | SF | Akers 31-yard field goal | 15 | 13 |
| 4 | 13:53 | DET | Nate Burleson 5-yard pass from Stafford (two-point pass failed) | 15 | 19 |
| 4 | 1:56 | SF | Delanie Walker 6-yard pass from Alex Smith on fourth-and-goal (Akers kick) | 22 | 19 |
| 4 | 1:06 | SF | Akers 37-yard field goal | 25 | 19 |
| Number | Detail |
|---|---|
| 15 for 141 | Frank Gore’s rushing line, including a 55-yard run |
| 203 to 66 | Rushing yards, San Francisco vs. Detroit |
| 15 for 120 | 49ers penalties and penalty yards |
| 28/50, 293 | Matthew Stafford: 2 TD, 0 INT, sacked five times |
| 17/32, 125 | Alex Smith: 1 TD, 1 INT |
| 7 for 113 | Calvin Johnson’s receiving line |
| 9 for 77 | Michael Crabtree’s receiving line |
| 14 | NaVorro Bowman’s tackles |
| 62,061 | Attendance at Ford Field |
The handshake
When the clock hit zero, Harbaugh ran down the sideline yelling and pumping his fist. He met Schwartz near midfield, grabbed his hand, slapped him on the back and kept going. Schwartz turned, went after him and shoved him from behind with his forearm. They shouted at each other as players and staff pulled them apart.
“I was really revved up,” Harbaugh said afterward. “That wasn’t me. Just shook his hand too hard. That’s on me.” He called it “kind of a slap-grab handshake.”
Schwartz said it differently: “I went to congratulate Coach Harbaugh and got shoved out of the way. And then I didn’t expect an obscenity at that point, so it was a surprise to me at the end of the game.” When he was asked for more, he said, “I’m sure it’s on video.”
The next day, league spokesman Greg Aiello said neither coach would be fined: “Fortunately, there was no fighting and thus no basis for a fine.” Both coaches told the league office their conduct was wrong and would not happen again. Harbaugh still would not apologize: “Personally I can get better at the postgame handshake, and we’ll attempt to do that. I don’t think that there’s any reason for an apology.” Then he added: “Apologies always seem to me like excuses.”
Harbaugh had been in a postgame spat before. In 2009, after his Stanford team went for two late in a blowout of USC, Pete Carroll asked him, “What’s your deal?” at midfield. Detroit made it an NFL story.
What came next
Both teams kept winning. San Francisco went 13-3, won the NFC West and beat New Orleans in the divisional round, then lost the NFC Championship Game to the Giants in overtime. Harbaugh was named coach of the year. Detroit went 10-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season, then lost to the Saints in the wild-card round.
The rematch came on a Sunday night in Week 2 of 2012 at Candlestick Park. San Francisco won 27-19, and this time the postgame handshake passed without incident.
Today’s rulebook has a line that covers that day. Rule 13-1-8 bars non-player personnel, coaches included, from unnecessary physical contact with opponents and from abusive or insulting language or gestures, and says violations at the game site on game day, “including postgame,” can bring discipline from the Commissioner. Our new palpably unfair act guide explains how far the referee’s and the Commissioner’s powers go when someone off the field gets involved in a game.
Related WhyNFL reading: Coach’s challenge and instant replay, Ejections and suspensions for non-football acts, Unsportsmanlike conduct, taunting and celebrations, After the flag. Team pages: 49ers, Lions.
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