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Trey Lance was always going to come in for criticism after his first game as the unchallenged starter for the San Francisco 49ers ended with a dismal 19-10 defeat to the Chicago Bears.
Lance went 13 out of 28 for 164 yards with no touchdowns and an interception on a rain-soaked Soldier Field. While the conditions did Lance few favors, and nor did the Niners’ nasty habit of committing penalties in key moments, his performance has still attracted intense scrutiny.
The most acid-tongued critique came from a former Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator with ties to both the 49ers and Bears. This divisive play-caller savaged Lance with several barbed comments, including “he looked like a fullback stumbling around.”
Controversial OC Pulls No Punches
Mike Martz didn’t hold back when he offered his assessment of Lance to The 33rd Team. Martz started as he meant to go on when he declared: “I’ve never seen anything about this kid that was encouraging at all.”
Not only did Martz savage Lance as a passer, he also mocked the second-year quarterback’s attempts to make an impact as a runner. To Martz, Lance’s dual-threat skills don’t belong in the same bracket as those of Baltimore Ravens star Lamar Jackson: “I mean he’s not Lamar.”
Martz finished this surprisingly damning summary by saying Lance is “not a great passer. Doesn’t have good skills, takes him a long time to set himself and throw the football. Misses easy throws and he’s not a particularly good runner. Other than that he’s a hell of a player.”
Ouch.
Even for a blunt summing up of a bad day at the office for Lance, this was savage stuff. Some may welcome Martz’s harsh words as a non-sugar-coated and desperately needed honest evaluation of the player the Niners have pinned their hopes on this season.
After all, Martz ought to know what he’s talking about, having directed the famed ‘Greatest Show on Turf,’ an offense that helped former Arena League QB Kurt Warner become a Hall of Famer.
The scheme Martz called also helped the St. Louis Rams win Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season when he served as coordinator under Dick Vermeil. Martz was the man in charge when the Rams returned to the big game two years later, only to be upset by the New England Patriots and a certain Tom Brady.
Those years with the Rams were as good as it got for Martz, even though he parlayed the success of his offense into several other coaching jobs. His other stops included a brief stint with the 49ers in 2008.
He was fired by interim head coach Mike Singletary on December 30 after overseeing an offense that struggled to protect the quarterback and the football: “San Francisco’s 35 turnovers were nearly the same number as last season, and Martz’s quarterbacks were sacked 55 times.”
The same problems followed Martz when he took over the Bears’ offense in 2010. Jay Cutler was sacked 52 times taking seven-stop drops behind a porous offensive line denied the help of additional blockers in Martz’s wide-open passing attack.
While Martz isn’t wrong to point out how much Lance struggled on Sunday, it’s also fair to say the quarterback was far from alone in letting the 49ers down.
Many Things Went Wrong for Niners
To his credit, Lance didn’t hide from what he did wrong in Chicago. He fronted up about holding onto the ball for too long, as well as missing easy connections.
The most obvious came when he failed to drop the ball into the hands of tight end Tyler Kroft. Lance tried to explain what went wrong, per KNBR’s Jake Hutchinson:
Lance needs to work on his accuracy, but the 49ers as a whole must improve their discipline before facing the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2. The Niners committed 12 penalties against the Bears, giving up 99 yards in the process.
Those frittered-away yards were a major boost for a Bears offense shut out in the first half. Defensive end Nick Bosa summed up his team’s ill-chosen generosity best, per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco:
The 49ers gave the game away, but Martz’s comments do speak to the underlying concerns about the situation at football’s most important position. General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan gave they keys to the kingdom to 2021’s third-overall pick ahead of incumbent starter Jimmy Garoppolo.
Despite his critics, Garoppolo has a proven track record of winning. He led the 49ers to Super Bowl LIV and an appearance in last season’s NFC Championship Game.
It’s a tough act for Lance to follow and any pressure to measure up is compounded by the talent around him elsewhere on the roster. This is a 49ers team good enough to stay in the thick of the Super Bowl hunt with only competent quarterback play.
If Lance can’t hit even that minimum standard, the three first-round picks Lynch and Shanahan gave up to draft him will be used as the best evidence for bringing their era to a close.
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