San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard got his first NFL start on Sunday. It was a tall order going up against the Dallas Cowboys, but the start came in front of a home crowd at Levi's Stadium and on a day on which the team paid tribute to former 49ers great Dwight Clark. However, that was not enough guide the 49ers to their first victory of the season as the team dropped to 0-7.
Beathard finished the game having completed 22 of his 38 passes for 235 yards. While he was unable to help any of his teammates score in the passing game, he rushed the football into the end zone for his first NFL rushing touchdown. Beathard ended the day with five rushing attempts for 30 yards and a touchdown.
The 49ers had lost five-straight by three-or-fewer points. That was not the case against Dallas. The change at quarterback last week from Brian Hoyer to Beathard was meant to spark a 49ers offense that went into Sunday's game ranked 23rd in scoring. The Cowboys soundly defeated the 49ers by a score of 40-10.
What did head coach Kyle Shanahan think of Beathard's performance against Dallas? He spoke to reporters following the defeat.
"Good or bad, playing, C.J. will learn from it," Shanahan said of his rookie quarterback. "He's a tough kid. By no means was he perfect. He did make some plays in the game and there's some he missed too. It was similar to last week. I think he'll learn from those and I think he came out early, got settled down a little bit as we got going. Unfortunately, we didn't keep the score close to keep him in it and stick with some of the stuff we wanted to.
"But the type of kid C.J. is, the type of competitor he is, it's going to be good tomorrow to get to sit down and watch the tape with him and really coach him up."
The 49ers' next opponent is the Philadelphia Eagles, which they face on Sunday, October 29 at Lincoln Financial Field.
