Kyle Shanahan Confirms Wild 49ers QB Plan Had They Reached Super Bowl LVII

Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers would have been backed into a massive corner if they somehow figured out a way to win last season’s NFC Championship Game.

Starting quarterback Brock Purdy tore the UCL in his elbow in the first quarter against the Eagles, and with Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance already sidelined with injuries, too, the 49ers turned to fourth-stringer and journeyman backup Josh Johnson, who stood zero chance in that situation.

But if the 49ers somehow prevailed instead of losing 31-7, Shanahan had a plan to solve San Francisco’s quarterback dilemma for Super Bowl LVII. And it sure wasn’t a conventional one.

The 49ers were going to sign 41-year-old Philip Rivers, who hadn’t taken a snap since retiring following the 2020 season, and have him take over under center to try to lead the way to a championship.

Shanahan confirmed with reporters Thursday that’s the route they most likely would have taken if the situation presented itself. Shanahan said Rivers was on board with the plan, too.

“He was prepared to,” Shanahan told reporters, per a team-provided transcript posted to social media by The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin. “Now that’s stuff we talked about throughout the whole year. We would’ve had to seen how that was for the Super Bowl, but that was the plan most of the year.”

It certainly would have been wild for Rivers to come out of retirement and try to win a Super Bowl for the 49ers against the San Francisco 49ers. It’s easy to see why the circumstance would appeal to Rivers, who never reached a Super Bowl in his 17-year NFL career.

It’s crazy to think what could have been, and now it just turns into a massive what-if in 49ers history.