The Levi's Stadium crowd was excited to see San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance receive his first career home start. It was even more exciting to see the 21-year-old earn his first win as a starter.
The 49ers quarterback situation is fluid heading into the regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Rams. The safer bet would be Lance getting his third NFL start with Jimmy Garoppolo still dealing with a thumb injury.
"Trey did a good job," head coach Kyle Shanahan said after Sunday's win over the Houston Texans. "If Jimmy can't go [against the Rams], we won't hesitate at all. But if we feel Jimmy can go and play confident, then Jimmy will be out there."
Shanahan is holding onto hope that Garoppolo can practice on Wednesday. Of course, the veteran quarterback is dealing with an ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tear and chipped bone in that right thumb, which makes gripping the football difficult and painful.
A healthy Garoppolo might give the 49ers a better chance to win than Lance. Garoppolo isn't at 100 percent, though, making the quarterback decision for Sunday complicated. And Lance has a little momentum right now, having received the starter reps in four practices last week and against the Texans on Sunday.
On Tuesday morning, fullback Kyle Juszczyk joined NFL Network and offered a scouting report on his two quarterbacks. He and his teammates are obviously confident the 49ers can win with either one.
"Jimmy is so good at just being an efficient, on-time passer, getting the ball out quick, letting his guys do things with it," Juszczyk told Andrew Siciliano. "And Trey, he can do a little bit more improvising, getting outside of the pocket and getting the ball downfield. And that is a stress for defenses.
"I know in today's age of football, if you can get outside of the pocket and extend the play, that's where the big plays are, in these broken plays. You see it all across the league with mobile quarterbacks, so it's great to have that element when we have Trey. But either quarterback that we have, each one of them has their strengths that really help our team."
