"You bring guys in just to see where they're at to make sure they haven't just been sitting on the couch for the last couple months," head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Wednesday. "They've still been working out. They can still function. Then, you mainly go off of what you saw on tape."
The 49ers didn't sign any of the seven quarterbacks they brought in. As expected, San Francisco promoted Nick Mullens from the practice squad to the active roster. The team will head into Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers with C.J. Beathard as the starter and Mullens as his backup.
The 49ers are just too banged up right now to be able to carry three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, especially considering that only two will be active on game day.
General manager John Lynch joined KNBR on Friday morning and discussed the 49ers' decision not to sign a quarterback and move forward with Mullens as Beathard's backup.
"We would have liked to have signed someone, but the way our roster was with injuries, we just weren't able to," Lynch said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "Hopefully, after this week, some things will settle down, and we'll be able to take a good look at that again.
"The reality is, though, every week we go in with two quarterbacks. We've never done that since we've been here — gone in with three quarterbacks active. You go in with two active, and Nick Mullens is a guy who's impressed us since he's been here with his grasp of the scheme and his ability to go make plays.
"Nick will be on the game plan and all that. Like I said, we've got a ton of belief in C.J., and hopefully, he gets through this game, but if not, we trust in Nick Mullens to be able to go and operate our system."
The 49ers and Chargers kick off at 1:25 p.m. PT on Sunday from the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
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