In case you missed it Sunday – and as a 49ers fan, I sure as heck didn’t – former North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance is out for the season.
Lance broke his right ankle on a designed QB power read option in the first quarter of San Francisco’s win over Seattle on Sunday.
San Francisco led 3-0 and Lance was 2 of 3 for 30 yards passing while their run game chipped away at the Seahawks’ defensive front. But then, on a designed QB power dive off right guard, Lance was stopped after a 2-yard gain by defensive tackle Bryan Mone and rolled over by Cody Barton. When Barton came in, Lance’s ankle went one way and his leg went another.
Minutes later, he was being carted off the field, his season done with a right fibula fracture and ligament tear.
It was a terribly disappointing and abrupt end to the 22-year-old’s season. Lance was looking good early against Seattle coming off a Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears in historically wet and rainy conditions – in which Lance played OK, but not at all great – and seemed to be in the early stages of silencing the endless couch-bound critics and podcast prognosticators – and even many NFL analysts and coaches – who vehemently believed he wasn’t ready to be the 49ers’ starter.
So what now?
It’s unknown just how severe it is – and that may be revealed today – but what we know is Lance is out for the season. His ankle bent the wrong way and potentially dislocated in a fashion somewhat similar to when Cowboys QB Dak Prescott dislocated and broke his ankle in 2020.
Dr. David J. Chao, the “ProFootballDoc” who writes for Outkick.com, predicts that Lance will make a full recovery. Still, it’ll likely be six months before Lance is even able to step on the field again.
The 49ers now turn to their “backup” QB who happened to have been their starter for the past five seasons, Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo led them to the Super Bowl three years ago and had the team within minutes of another last season despite battling a host of injuries. He said stepping in as the starter, despite little training camp interaction with his teammates and receivers, is “like riding a bike.” He looked solid Sunday, going 13 of 21 for 154 yards and a TD in a 27-7 win.
Analyst Colin Cowherd, who has been noted to be both very hot and very cold as a Lance supporter, said Sunday night on his podcast that the 49ers are better with Garoppolo because of Lance’s struggles with accuracy and lack of experience.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan got a little snippy with reporters in the postgame press conference as they pressed him on why he continued to run Lance, who has showcased the athletic ability and speed to run outside the tackles, on multiple runs up the middle in the first two games of the season.
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle (Paywall) questioned “Why was the 49ers’ quarterback of the present and the future being used as a short-yardage battering ram?” three times in the first quarter. He also questioned why – in sunny and beautiful conditions – the 49ers didn’t take more shots downfield with Lance against the Seahawks’ suspect defense and with starting running back Elijah Mitchell already on sidelined with an injury.
According to Peter King of NBC Sports, Shanahan apparently apologized to Lance after the game and told him “You were playing your ass off.” King, which called what happened to Lance a shocking reversal of fortune, noted that Lance’s first season as a started lasted a whopping 73 minutes and will enter his third season with just four starts. (Scroll down for story.)
It’ll be interesting this week to hear the Monday Morning Quarterbacking at its finest this week as to Shanahan’s decision-making, Lance’s style of play, and “making sense” of everything that has happened in this Niners Drama and what’s about to happen. After all, this is now the fourth year in Shanahan’s tenure that the 49ers have had to deal with a starting quarterback’s long-term injury.
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