Philip Rivers was 49ers' QB contingency plan for Super Bowl, Kyle Shanahan says - ESPN

Long before the San Francisco 49ers ran out of healthy quarterbacks in their NFC Championship Game loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, they had begun making contingency plans for the position had they advanced to Super Bowl LVII.

One of those plans involved bringing veteran signal caller Philip Rivers out of retirement to take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

«He was prepared to,» Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said Thursday. «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.»

That possibility never materialized as the Niners lost starter Brock Purdy to a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and backup Josh Johnson to a concussion. Purdy finished the game but was unable to throw, essentially eliminating any chance the 49ers had of advancing. Those injuries came after the Niners lost Trey Lance to a broken right ankle in Week 2 and veteran Jimmy Garoppolo to a broken left foot on Dec. 4.

Had the Niners defeated the Eagles and signed Rivers, he would have been playing in the league for the first time since 2020. But joining the Niners in that hypothetical scenario would have given Rivers, 41, his first chance to play in a Super Bowl.

In 17 seasons as the quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts, Rivers was an eight-time Pro Bowler and the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year in 2013. He ranks sixth all time in passing yards (63,440) and touchdowns (421) and 16th in passer rating (95.2) but never advanced past the AFC Championship Game.

Since retiring on Jan. 20, 2021, Rivers has served as the coach of the St. Michael Catholic High team in Fairhope, Alabama.

For his part, Rivers told AL.com in