The San Francisco 49ers emerged from Week 17 victorious, as quarterback Trey Lance led the team to a 23-7 victory over the Houston Texans.
It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but San Francisco isn’t complaining. The win keeps their playoff hopes in their control at 9-7, and the Niners will enter Week 18’s clash against the Los Angeles Rams with the hopes of a huge regular season-ending win.
While he had some miscues, Lance made the most of his offensive weapons, throwing for 249 yards and two scores with 31 rushing yards to boot. Besides an ugly interception in the first half, Lance looked about as good as a fan could hope for in his second-ever NFL start.
Which prompted all-important questions to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Does this performance change anything? Will San Francisco start quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo against the Rams if he’s healthy after the 29-year-old missed Week 17 with a sprained UCL in his thumb?
Shanahan answered those questions concisely in the Niners’ post-game presser, per David Lombardi.
No change in Shanahan’s stance on Garoppolo/Lance/starting QB moving forward. He says Garoppolo is the obvious starter if fully healthy, but since he’s not fully healthy he won’t hesitate to go w/ Lance if needed. Shanahan adds Garoppolo won’t need to be fully healthy to start
Shanahan also updated Garoppolo’s status, at least in his estimation.
“I think he’ll able to do it this week,” Shanahan said. “Still, that’s just me giving you guys an honest guess.”
So nothing absolute, but it’s clear that Jimmy G is still the No. 1 quarterback in the 49ers locker room. That being said, it’s hard to think that Lance hurt the team’s belief in him after his dramatic second-half showing.
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Trey Lance Explodes in Second Half
The 49ers did not put a huge workload on Lance, with the quarterback only throwing 23 times. As one would expect from a Shanahan offense, the team established themselves through the run with the return of Elijah Mitchell, who took 21 handoffs for 119 yards.
Mitchell also was on the end of Lance’s first passing touchdown of the day, that was part of an encouraging second half from Lance.
Lance ended up completing six of 10 passes for 144 yards along with his two touchdown tosses. Considering the Niners were down 7-3 and offensively stagnant in the first half, Lance keeping composure and then delivering on basic, important plays like the pass to a wide-open Deebo Samuel below made the difference.
49ers HC Says Lance Made Him ‘Proud’
Shanahan may be sticking with Garoppolo(if he can play,) but the coach also made it clear that he was pleased with Lance’s performance. The 49ers head coach chatted with NBC Sports shortly after the game to praise the rookie’s performance.
“I was so proud of [Lance,]” Shanahan said. “I thought he did a hell of a job. We came in the game, just how efficient he was with the ball, getting to the right guys. When he ran, he did a hell of a job running. The pick was disappointing, but watching him bounce back from that, he didn’t get gun-shy, he kept letting it rip.”
Lance’s lone interception came when the 49ers offense was struggling in the first half, which had already failed to convert a fourth-and-short on its second drive and punted after a drive of 56 yards.
As Shanahan mentioned, the best from Lance was only to come, and that led to San Francisco grinding out a must-win in Week 17.
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49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Reveals Which QB He Plans to Start in Week 18