The San Francisco 49ers are having a quarterback nightmare in the NFC Championship Game. Now the franchise is in favour of reinstating the third-quarterback rule

For the San Francisco 49ers, the NFC Championship Game was the most bitter game of the year.

First quarterback Brock Purdy went down with an elbow injury, then when backup Josh Johnson also suffered a concussion, Purdy had to return to the field even though he couldn’t throw the ball more than five yards.

At their final press conference, Head Coach Kyle Shanahan and General Manager John Lynch took a stand on the abolished “Third-Quarterback Rule”.

Both were asked whether they would support its reinstatement. “Yes, I would definitely be in favour of it,” Shanahan explained. “We were scared to death when that rule expired, no matter how many years ago that was, but you kind of forget about it when you don’t see someone go through that. But then you’re reminded how quickly a football game is over when something like that happens. In that sense, I think that would be a very smart thing to do. “

49ers back third quarterback

From 1991 to 2010, the NFL had a special rule for the third quarterback. This allowed teams to dress 45 players for game day. If that included two quarterbacks, then teams were allowed to dress a third playmaker as well without counting him towards the player limit.

But: if the third signal caller entered the field in whatever position before the end of the third quarter, the starter and backup quarterback were suspended for the final quarter.

In 2011 the rule was abolished because from then on franchises were allowed to field 46 players. So the individual teams could decide for themselves whether to use a third signal caller as the 46th player. However, because the loss of two quarterbacks at the same time rarely occurs, most decided against it.

A reintroduction of the rule would therefore mean that a 47th player would be allowed by the NFL.

“It would be good for football “

“I think it would be good for football,” Niners GM Lynch is certain. “You always weigh up whether it makes sense to have three quarterbacks on the squad or whether you use a full complement of players at the different positions instead. You’d have more guys in camps improving, I think that would be good. “