San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was noncommittal when asked on Sunday night if Jimmy Garoppolo would remain his starting quarterback. On Monday, he was much clearer: Garoppolo will remain the starter, working ahead of rookie Trey Lance.
"Trey hasn't practiced in two weeks, so when he does come back, he'll probably be limited as it is," Shanahan said at his Monday media availability, per NBC Sports Bay Area. "Odds are when it comes to the game plan, you're not going to start rotating quarterbacks, because it's not an open competition right now."
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However, Shanahan did indicate that Lance (who sat out Sunday's game due to a knee injury) could be used situationally, as he was in the first game of the season, if he is healthy enough to play on Sunday against the Bears. "Hopefully Trey will get back into practice and have a good enough week to where he can dress, and if he ends up dressing, there's always a good chance he'll get some plays in there," Shanahan said, while indicating that Lance could practice as soon as Wednesday.
Regarding his noncommittal nature on Sunday night, Shanahan insisted it was only related to Garoppolo's health, as he came into the game coming off a calf injury that kept him out of the team's Week 5 game. "In terms of deciding who's going at quarterback, that has to do with Jimmy's health," Shanahan said. "I wanted to see how his calf was, and it's good today."
After losing to the Colts, the 2-4 49ers have dropped four in a row and are in danger of falling completely out of the NFC playoff picture. They can only keep holding on to the Garoppolo era for so long. This is going to be Lance's job sooner or later, so whenever he's healthy and ready, they should be
