The kid can play.
But now the question is: Should the kid keep playing?
The 49ers have a legitimate quarterback controversy on their hands heading into the final game of the regular season — a game the Niners, in all likelihood, must win to make the playoffs.
All season long, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan has opted to “win now” by playing veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo over the option to “develop for the future” with rookie Trey Lance.
But after Lance turned in a winning performance in his second NFL start on Sunday, and with Garoppolo’s injured thumb preventing him from throwing a football this week, those two options might have become one.
If Garoppolo can practice and play this week, Shanahan will have a tough decision on his hands heading into the Niners’ biggest game since Super Bowl LIV.
Lance was absolutely good enough to make that the case Sunday.
The rookie quarterback found a rhythm in the second half and sparked a strong offensive push to help the Niners beat the Texans 23-7.
We saw progress from the rookie since the last time he started a game, back in October.
We saw a quarterback who improved as the game progressed.
In his performance Sunday, which ended with him completing 16 of 23 passes for 249 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, Lance provided Niners fans with dozens of reasons to be excited about the future with him as the team’s starting quarterback.
A rookie quarterback getting better with more playing time and experience? Who could have ever imagined such a thing?
But for the time being, he’s still, technically, the backup to Garoppolo.
Shanahan said that if Garoppolo is 100 percent for practice this upcoming week, he would be the starting quarterback against the Rams.
But seeing as Garoppolo has a Grade 3 sprain of the UCL in his right thumb — an injury that, per an NFL Network report, will require offseason surgery — and that he was unable to throw at all in the lead-up to the game against the Texans, such a percentage seems impossible.
In fact, it seems ridiculous that Shanahan believes Garoppolo could start next Sunday.
But ignoring the very real possibility that Shanahan is lying for game-planning purposes, the question must be asked:
If Garoppolo can play, what arbitrarily ascribed percentage of health would be enough to start him at quarterback — over Lance — what is likely to be the biggest Niners game since Super Bowl LIV?
That number is higher after Sunday.
It took a while, but after an excruciating feeling-out period that lasted the better part of two quarters — a stretch that featured an inexcusable, second-quarter interception by Lance down the left sideline — the Niners’ offense hummed.
Now, Houston is not a good team. The Texans’ 4-12 record this season is well deserved. But San Francisco averaged nearly seven yards per play against them on Sunday, racking up 416 total yards of offense, one of their best offensive performances of the season.
Lance was attacking the Texans’ defense all over the field. He showed improvisational skills in the backfield and useful arm strength the Niners haven’t boasted since Colin Kaepernick was at the position.
That, paired with his rushing skills showed completely new dimensions of the 49ers’ offense.
It was a quarterbacking performance that was the opposite of what we have seen from Garoppolo all season.
I’m not outright saying it was better or worse (long-time readers can easily presume my stance, though). It was simply different. While Garoppolo throws short, quick, and over the middle, Lance throws long and to the sidelines after holding onto the ball for an eternity. Garoppolo stands in the pocket to throw the ball, sometimes to his detriment. Lance’s instincts tell him to scramble away from pressure, sometimes to his detriment.
And with this strange dichotomy in mind, it’s hardly surprising that the Niners’ offense looked disjointed and out of sync at the start of Sunday’s game.
After all, the Niners have practiced all year long with Garoppolo as the top quarterback, save for one week in October when he was injured.
To go from Garoppolo to Lance must have been jarring.
The first few series of the game were certainly jarring for Lance.
The game was going 250 miles per hour for the rookie during the fifth and sixth quarters of his NFL career. At the same time, Shanahan, the 49ers’ offensive play-caller, was clearly uncomfortable — alternating between painful conservatism and compensatory aggression. His fourth-down calls were downright bizarre, too.
The offensive line struggled. Receivers seemed out of sorts. Not a single thing in the passing game seemed to be on time.
Thank goodness for rookie running back Elijah Mitchell, who has been the 49ers’ rock this season, and a fiery defense that came to play on Sunday — both kept bought Lance and Shanahan time.
They made the most of it.
The second half served as a reminder that timing can be taught, but talent cannot.
And Lance actualized a great deal of his prodigious talent in the seventh and eighth quarters of his young and promising NFL career.
“Nothing is too big for him,” Shanahan said of Lance. “We know we have a guy that guys can follow”
The win over Houston was big for the 49ers. They were aptly referring to it as a playoff game in the Week 17 build-up.
Next week’s game is the same, but the stakes are even higher.
Lance will be the No. 1 quarterback for the 49ers in due time. Sunday’s win inspires confidence that the Niners will be in good hands when that happens full-time, likely next season.
For now, he’s the No. 1 quarterback on an interim basis. He’s the future.
And while this juncture of the season is no doubt a strange time for a transition, if a quarterback decision, indeed, needs to be made by Shanahan this week ahead of this huge game, the future could be now.
Source: www.mercurynews.com