49ers HC Kyle Shanahan Vague on Starting QB Moving Forward

Jimmy Garoppolo

Getty Jimmy Garoppolo throws the football into the rain during the 49ers' Sunday, October 24, loss to the Colts.

The faith Kyle Shanahan has for Jimmy Garoppolo is starting to look and sound vague.

The San Francisco 49ers head coach watched his team fall in a sloppy 30-18 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, October 24, and witnessed his quarterback throw two late interceptions through the rainy Bay Area sky.

The 12-point loss handed the 49ers their fourth straight defeat. The moment the question was fired off to Shanahan on if Jimmy G is the guy moving forward, Shanahan gave this response.

“I would guess so,” Shanahan said, which can be heard at the 3:15 mark of the postgame presser below.

The 41-year-old head coach then added that his evaluation will come in the film room and in looking at the available health of the roster.

“I’m going to watch this tape and see if guys are healthy, first of all. I don’t even know where our guys are at,” Shanahan said. “It was good for Jimmy to be able to get healthy enough to play in this game today.”


Shanahan Points out Struggles

Shanahan didn’t want to blame it on the precipitation that brought a torrent downfall onto the Levi Stadium’s grass and made the football slippery to handle.

His offense managed just 181 yards through the rain…and not one completion stretched beyond 30 yards.

“I think we struggled to throw and catch a lot more than they did, that’s what it looked like,” Shanahan said. “I didn’t think there was a ton of bad decisions. Just missed some throws. Obviously, the ball got away from him a few times.”

While Deebo Samuel was a bright spot for the 49ers with his 7-catch, 100-yard and one touchdown evening, Garoppolo targeted him the most at 11 attempts his side — including this late interception with three Colt defenders near the vicinity and Xavier Rhodes snatching the pick.

On the evening, the 49ers turned the ball over four times. Shanahan, though, didn’t spend his entire presser answering about whether or not he remains committed to Garoppolo or if he’ll go back to rookie Trey Lance.

“I got a whole team to worry about,” Shanahan said. “Not just thinking about what the quarterback situation is right now. I’m going to evaluate everything, see where our team’s at, see what gives us the best chance to beat Chicago, and see what our options are. That’s what you go into each week, finding out your options. We had two quarterbacks who were hurting this week. Jimmy was able to come back and play. We’ll see if Trey can (play) next week, we’re still not sure yet, but I got a lot of things to figure out.”


Jimmy G Says 49ers Need to ‘Execute’

Meanwhile, Garoppolo admits that the execution of the offense starts with him.

“I don’t have one specific thing. Whatever play is called, we have to go out there and execute,” Garoppolo said. “It’s about putting in more time and effort, staying longer, more hours, the little things at this point. The NFL is a crazy thing. One week you’re on top and the next you’re on the bottom of it. Every team has their ups and downs and we’re at the lower point right now but we can fight back.”

And what it the morale like for Jimmy G and the now 2-4 49ers?

“We’re a tight team right now. It starts with me, no doubt about it,” Garoppolo said. “But we got a good group of guys and we have to go back to work.”

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