Trey Lance. Jimmy Garoppolo. Brock Purdy. Josh Johnson. Over the weeks, all these quarterbacks have succeeded in leading the attack of the 49ers last season. Both Purdy and Johnson suffered injuries during the conference final, with the former having to finish the game with an arm that was nearly unable to throw.
But if, by some miracle, San Francisco had passed the Philadelphia hurdle to reach the Super Bowl?
The Big Game could have been the scene of a rather crazy comeback. On Thursday, Kyle Shanahan confirmed to ESPN that it was Philip Rivers who was the franchise’s ultimate backup plan throughout the 2022-23 campaign.
“He was prepared for it. These are things that we have talked about throughout the year. We should have seen how it would have gone for the Super Bowl, but that was the plan for most of the year. »
Rivers retired on January 20, 2021. He would therefore have made his return to the lawn after two years without playing, directly in the biggest game of the year.
In March, Rivers, 41, told AL.com that he had been contacted by NFL franchises. In retrospect, we can guess that the Niners were in the lot.
“I was called by a few teams, who came to the news,” explained the veteran. “I haven’t contacted anyone and I’m not going anywhere. I think some teams, with the injuries, were maybe looking for a contingency plan. »
In the event of a Super Bowl, San Francisco might not have had to field Rivers. There remained a possibility: a return of Jimmy Garoppolo just in time for the big game. It was in any case the hope of the player and the team at the time of his foot injury.
