The following season saw the team battle inconsistency for the first two-thirds of the campaign until Hickey unveiled his innovative new offense on November 27, with the 49ers were facing the favored Colts. Hickey sought to find a way to combat the Colts' strong pass rush and reasoned that having a quarterback stand seven yards back from the line of scrimmage would give the signal caller more time to throw, as well as force adjustments by Baltimore. The end result was a shocking 30-22 upset, with third-string quarterback Bob Waters surprisingly using the formation to aid the team's running game. The team won three of its final four games to again finish 7-5 and seemed ready to challenge for greater things in 1961, with Hickey in place for the expected surge with a new three-year contract.