The San Francisco 49ers had a crazy plan at quarterback had they made the Super Bowl last season.
The Niners went 13-4 last season, closing the regular season on a 10-game winning streak. They beat the Seahawks and Cowboys in the playoffs before losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.
Both Brock Purdy, who began the season as the team’s third-string QB, and Josh Johnson, who was their fourth-string QB, got hurt against Philly. The Niners were left non-competitive in their 31-7 loss to the Eagles.
Had the team made it to the Super Bowl, San Francisco was planning to bring veteran quarterback Philip Rivers out of retirement for the game. Seriously.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made the revelation on Thursday while speaking with the media.
“[Rivers] was prepared to,” Shanahan said Thursday, regarding the plan to have Rivers come out of retirement. “Now that’s stuff we talked about throughout the whole year. We would’ve had to have seen how that was for the Super Bowl, but that was the plan most of the year.”
The 49ers lost Trey Lance to a broken ankle in Week 2, and Jimmy Garoppolo went down with a broken foot in early December. Purdy, who was the last pick in the 2022 draft, stepped in and looked great. San Francisco signed Johnson days after Garoppolo’s injury. Apparently they were also in touch with Rivers due to their quarterback problems.
Now 41, Rivers last played in the NFL in 2020 with the Indianapolis Colts. He played his final season with them after spending 16 seasons with the Chargers franchise, with whom he made eight Pro Bowls.
Rivers recently admitted that he had heard from two teams that had shaky quarterback situations at the time of the playoffs. The Niners were one of the teams. The other squad was a very interesting one.
