SANTA CLARA — Thank goodness no different workforce within the NFL needed Jimmy Garoppolo.
The 49ers wanted him Sunday. They’ll want him for the subsequent 15 video games, too.
They may want him for one more few seasons past that.
Trey Lance’s first season because the 49ers’ beginning quarterback is over after 5 quarters, as he broke his proper ankle on a first-quarter working play throughout a 27-7 win over the Seahawks Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.
The Niners’ playoff hopes didn’t evaporate on Sunday, as they did in September 2018 when Garoppolo tore his ACL on the finish of a Week 3 recreation towards the Chiefs. No, as a result of Garoppolo continues to be, improbably, on the workforce, the Niners have an opportunity to play deep into January.
However whereas the Lance damage won't harm the workforce dramatically now, it places the entire 49ers’ long-term plans right into a blender.
This season was all about Lance. That’s nonetheless true regardless that he received’t play once more in 2022.
Lance is the way forward for the Niners’ franchise. Not less than he must be, as he was the No. 3 general within the 2021 NFL Draft and the Niners traded away three first-round picks for the suitable to pick out him.
He was the current of the franchise, too. Till Sunday, at the very least.
The Niners went all-in on Lance after they picked him.
And in just a few months, the Niners should resolve in the event that they’ll double down on that guess earlier than Lance’s pivotal third NFL season. They’ll need to make that guess with out the advantage of their very own playing cards.
You may be bullish or bearish on Lance’s potential, however greater than a season in, nobody is aware of if he can win within the NFL.
When the younger quarterback returns to the sector in 2023, he'll achieve this with out having began and completed back-to-back video games within the NFL. He’ll have performed just one full soccer season — on the second tier of the NCAA’s Division 1, no much less — since he graduated from his small-town Minnesota highschool.
Simply as there was no precedent for the Niners preserving Garoppolo on their roster as a backup quarterback — regardless of him being the beginning quarterback for the workforce in final season’s NFC Championship Recreation — there isn't a blueprint for a beginning quarterback being profitable on this league having performed so little soccer.
This can be a place that calls for each expertise and expertise. Lance can solely boast the previous. This season was all about giving him the latter.
Shanahan stated he’s not conscious of a profession analogous to Lance’s.
“It’s unlucky,” the coach stated. “We had been actually hoping to see a number of him this 12 months. But when anybody can do it, it’s him.”
The Niners had been going to search out out in 2022 if Lance was or wasn’t the form of participant who may carry a franchise for years to return — if he was the form of participant they may envision successful a Tremendous Bowl on this period of superhuman quarterbacks.
If Lance was, certainly, that form of quarterback, the Niners would have possessed an MVP-caliber participant enjoying on an inexpensive contract for at the very least two extra years. The workforce’s Tremendous Bowl window can be huge open and so they may spend to open it wider.
If he wasn’t, the Niners may have hedged on their all-in guess and moved on from Lance, both in dedication or by buying and selling him.
Within the wild new NFL, top-tier quarterbacks transfer each offseason. Possibly the Niners can get one this upcoming offseason.
Or possibly they’ll cross.
Have they seen sufficient that they'll stay absolutely dedicated to Lance? If not, can they discover a quarterback with higher upside than Garoppolo?
How may you probably make that call after 4 NFL begins?
The 49ers are flying blind right here, and what they do earlier than subsequent season will doubtless outline the subsequent 5 years of Niners soccer and Shanahan’s tenure time as head coach. This can be a league the place quarterbacks and head coaches outline success.
Understanding that, choosing Lance was a giant, grand, daring experiment for the 49ers. It compelled us all to look massive image with the workforce whereas sustaining excessive short-term expectations.
The Niners believed with danger may come reward after they acquired Lance.
And to this point, they've solely skilled the previous. The latter may by no means come.
So what comes subsequent?
For the subsequent 15 weeks, Garoppolo shall be again on the helm of the Niners’ offense. If Sunday’s win over the Seahawks was predictive, we must always anticipate the identical ol’ Jimmy G — good however not adequate. And we’ll most likely see some snaps with third-string quarterback Brock Purdy — the final choose within the 2022 NFL Draft — as effectively. You simply can’t belief Garoppolo to remain wholesome.
Keep in mind, there’s a purpose the Niners moved on from Garoppolo and made Lance their beginning quarterback: They didn’t imagine Garoppolo could lead on the workforce to a Tremendous Bowl win. That perception was backed up by his efficiency within the fourth quarters of Tremendous Bowl LIV and final season’s NFC Championship Recreation. It’s a vote of no confidence echoed by 31 different NFL groups this previous offseason, when the Niners tried to commerce No. 10.
As an alternative of releasing Garoppolo when nobody bit on a commerce, San Francisco as an alternative opted to restructure the quarterback’s contract and preserve him as Lance’s backup.
“That is the explanation you purchase insurance coverage… Jimmy [Garoppolo] was form of our insurance coverage coverage in case one thing like this occurred,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk stated Sunday.
Garoppolo is a one-year stopgap, although — his contract expires on the finish of the season.
So until Garoppolo shocks us all and takes the 49ers excessive, this entire season shall be performed in useless. Sure, even when they make the playoffs.
After that, it’s resolution time.
And what a tricky resolution it will likely be.
