San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Blame NFL for 49ers' QB debacle in NFC title game

By Alex Lang | Last updated 2/1/23

The NFL only has itself to blame for the debacle of a team running out of healthy quarterbacks and ruining one of the season's biggest games.

When San Francisco QB Brock Purdy suffered a torn UCL in his throwing arm in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, journeyman Josh Johnson replaced him. But Johnson suffered a concussion, which briefly led to the 49ers using running back Christian McCaffrey at QB.

Purdy returned to action but couldn’t throw, so the luckless Niners ran nearly all running plays. The injury took away the game's competitiveness as the Eagles romped, 31-7.

It wouldn’t have happened more than a decade ago.

A rule change helped set up Sunday’s situation, as Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer noted in his MMQB column.

“It’s worth mentioning that the NFL used to have a fail-safe for this sort of circumstance—the third quarterback designation. The rule allowed for teams to dress a third quarterback without it counting against the 45-man game-day roster limit (with rules limiting the first two quarterbacks from reentering the game once the third quarterback went in).”

The rule was scrapped in 2011. Teams now dress 46 players on game day but few opt for a QB. There was rarely a need for a third quarterback, so most teams went with a player at another position.

This is painful to watch. If the @NFL hadnt gotten rid of the 3rd QB designation, we wouldn’t be having this problem. Apparently it wasn’t worth it to the @NFLPA
— Brady Quinn (@Brady_Quinn) January 29, 2023

The league’s competition committee should consider reinstating the rule to help ensure what happened to the Niners doesn’t happen again.

The NFL could easily keep the 46-man roster and add the third QB rule. The NFLPA would likely back the change as it would mean another player’s contract on the books.

While a third QB is likely far behind in talent and familiarity with a team’s offense, he would give teams a viable option should a worst-case scenario occur.

It’s one thing for a running back to play wide receiver because of injury. When a team loses viable options at the most important position in the sport, it ruins the competition.

The NFL needs to bring back the QB fail-safe.

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