Brian Griese is in his second season as the 49ers quarterbacks coach. He joined the 49ers after spending the previous two years (2020-21) as an analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football.
In his first year as the team's quarterbacks coach in 2022, San Francisco saw three starting quarterbacks during the season, with rookie QB Brock Purdy becoming the team's starter in Week 13. The 49ers offense remained explosive, as the team ranked fifth in the NFL in yards per game (365.6) and averaged 5.9 yards per play, the fourth-highest mark in the league. Purdy went 7-1 as a starter, including the playoffs, and became the first quarterback in franchise history to win their first five starts and the third rookie quarterback in NFL history to win at least their first five starts.
Griese played quarterback at the University of Michigan (1993-97), where he helped lead the Wolverines to an undefeated record and a share of the national championship as a senior in 1997. He was then drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round (91st overall) of the 1998 NFL Draft.
Throughout his 11-year NFL playing career with Denver (1998-2002), the Miami Dolphins (2003), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2004-05 & 2008) and Chicago Bears (2006-07), he appeared in 93 games (83 starts) and completed 1,752 of 2,796 career passing attempts for 19,440 yards and 119 touchdowns. He was part of a Denver team that won Super Bowl XXXIII under head coach Mike Shanahan. Griese made the 2001 Pro Bowl after completing 216 of 336 passing attempts for 2,688 yards and 19 touchdowns. He led the NFL that season with an average passer rating of 102.9. He was also one of three Denver finalists to represent the Broncos as their nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2001.
Griese entered the MNF booth following 11 seasons as a leading voice on college football, where he called games on ABC and ESPN from 2009-19. He also called ESPN's MNF doubleheader game in 2018 and 2019 in addition to calling Denver Broncos preseason games on both television (2018-19) and radio (2010-12). He and his father, Bob Griese, are the only father/son quarterback combination in NFL history to both win Super Bowl titles. Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1990 QB Bob Griese, won back-to-back titles with Miami in Super Bowls VII and VIII and later served as a top college football analyst for ABC Sports from 1987-2005.
A native of Miami, FL, Griese is the founder and board chair of Judi's House, a children's grief support center in Denver, CO, which was named in honor of his mother Judi, who died of breast cancer when he was 12. Since 2002, Judi's House has helped more than 11,000 youth and caregivers who are grieving a death find connection and healing. He received the Big Ten's Ford-Kinnick Leadership Award (2015) and the conference's Dungy-Thompson Humanitarian Award (2014), becoming the first to be honored with the Big Ten's annual alumni awards. Additionally, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation presented Griese with the 2011 Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy, an award that celebrates and promotes the selfless service of people in sports. Griese and his wife, Brook, have one daughter, Lia, and one son, Nathan.
