Philip Rivers ‘was ready to come back out of retirement to play for the 49ers in the event that they made the Tremendous Bowl’ says San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was ready to make one of the outlandish selections in NFL historical past had his group gained the NFC Championship sport.

With San Francisco watching on as each beginning QB Brock Purdy and backup Josh Johnson went down with accidents within the convention title sport in opposition to Philadelphia, the Niners would have gone into the Super Bowl with out a quarterback had they made it.

They could have turned to an unlikely supply for assist in the event that they reached Tremendous Bowl LVII: retired quarterback Philip Rivers.

In accordance with Shanahan, he had held discussions with the previous San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts quarterback on a potential return for the Tremendous Bowl – regardless of having not taken a snap in two seasons.

When requested if Rivers wished to come back again for the Niners, Shanahan mentioned, ‘He was ready to.’

Retired NFL quarterback Philip Rivers might have suited up for the Niners within the Tremendous Bowl

Coach Kyle Shanahan mentioned Rivers was ‘ready to’ are available in for San Francisco if wanted

Brock Purdy, the Niners beginning quarterback, tore his UCL in opposition to Philadelphia within the NFC Championship sport. Because of that and extra accidents, San Francisco misplaced 31-7.

Shanahan added, ‘It is stuff we talked about for the entire 12 months. We might have needed to see the way it was for the Tremendous Bowl, however that was the plan for a lot of the 12 months.’

Chances are you’ll recall that the San Francisco 49ers had been utterly snake-bitten when it got here to luck with the well being of their quarterbacks within the 2022 season.

Simply two video games into the marketing campaign, deliberate starter Trey Lance went down with an harm that stored him out for the remainder of the season.

The torch was handed to Jimmy Garoppolo – who performed in eleven video games earlier than taking place with an harm.

That left the offense within the arms of Brock Purdy – a rookie quarterback out of Iowa State who was chosen final in that 12 months’s draft.

Purdy appeared sturdy beneath heart earlier than getting injured within the NFC title sport. Johnson changed him, however he too went down with a extreme concussion that compelled Shanahan to return to Purdy.

Enjoying with a torn UCL, Purdy and the Niners offense struggled to supply as Philadelphia gained 31-7.

Chalk this up as one other one of many sport’s nice ‘what if’s’ all through its historical past as a 41-year-old Philip Rivers – who has by no means performed for the Niners and has by no means performed in Shanahan’s offensive system – would have gotten his first snaps of the NFL season on the Tremendous Bowl in opposition to Kansas Metropolis.

Final 12 months was terrible for the Niners’ QB well being as Trey Lance performed two video games earlier than accidents

Jimmy Garoppolo stepped up for about eleven video games however then he went down injured as nicely

Then, after Purdy went down within the title sport, Josh Johnson got here in – then he too acquired injured

Rivers is kind of probably the best quarterback in Chargers historical past – having tossed for 59,271 yards and 397 touchdowns in his profession. 

With the Chargers, he reached the AFC Championship as soon as in 2007 – the place they misplaced to the then-undefeated New England Patriots.

He has a complete of 63,four hundred and forty yards, 421 touchdowns and 209 interceptions throughout the majority of his NFL profession spanning from 2004-2020.

Within the playoffs, Rivers has a complete of two,965 yards and 16 touchdowns throughout twelve video games.