Andrew Luck was the real winner of 49ers-Giants

There’s leaning into the bit, and then there’s absolutely owning it.

During the post-game show on Amazon Prime following Thursday night’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants, retired quarterback Andrew Luck absolutely owned one of social media’s best football bits.

While Luck was still playing, one of the best social media accounts was “@CaptAndrewLuck,” a play on Luck’s new beard that portrayed the passer as a Civil War captain, with an affinity for squirrel oil. Prior to Colts games the account would tweet dispatches from “Captain Luck” from the front such as this one:

The account went largely silent following Luck’s surprising retirement in 2019 — although the tweet following that announcement might have been one of the best ever from the account — but it is clear that the retired quarterback was paying attention. Because when he appeared on the post-game show Thursday night, he was dressed as a Civil War captain:

The real Captain Luck was also here to spread some good news.

The war is over.

The original Capt. Andrew Luck idea first originated on SBNation.com from the mind of our former NFL editor Ryan Van Bibber. RVB gave the story of how he came up with the idea to the Indianapolis Star back in 2016. Here’s one of the first posts on Luck looking like a Civil War general, written by former staffer Rodger Sherman. Many imitators have popped up since.

Luck’s joy in paying tribute to the account might be the best evidence of all. And it even brought @CaptAndrewLuck out of retirement:

Here’s to squirrel oil.