As one might expect, Trey Lance’s first NFL preseason as the San Francisco 49ers’ named starting quarterback had its highs and lows.
Against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 of the preseason, Lance completed 4 of 5 passes for 92 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and the highest-possible passer rating of 158.3. Nice start. Lance didn’t play last week against the Vikings, but he got a lot of reps in San Francisco’s preseason finale Thursday night against the Houston Texans. And in that 17-0 loss, he completed 7 of 11 passes for 49 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 73.7.
Overall, head coach Kyle Shanahan was Not Amused.
“It was pretty rough,” Shanahan said after the Texans game. “Didn’t play clean at all. I think we struggled to stop the run on that first drive, which was tough. When we did play good defense, I thought we had a couple bad penalties, kept them on the field. Offensively, just way too many penalties. I think offense especially, but it was also defense and special teams. And then I just thought we struggled to execute. I thought it was pretty sloppy play, and I wish it could have been cleaner.”
More specifically regarding the offense against the Texans, San Francisco was rolling with a relatively inexperienced offensive line, and it showed. Lance was under pressure and driven from the pocket more than anybody would like in a preseason game, and that was evident on tape. Shanahan sat Trent Williams, the NFL’s best offensive tackle, and right tackle Mike McGlinchey has been out since the second half of last season with a quadriceps injury.
“It’s been sporadic each week, so hopefully we’ll get Trent back, hopefully we’ll get McGlinchey back,” the coach said. “We’ve been mixing these young guys in there, so it’s been good for them to get a lot of reps. You always want more, but we’ve got 17 days to week one, so hopefully we’ll get some guys back. If you don’t, got keep working on the continuity throughout the year.”
As for Lance, Shanahan didn’t like what he saw, but he wasn’t about make it a big deal — just yet.
“I wish it was cleaner just from a whole, but I’m not going to make too much of it. We wanted him to get just two drives. I ended up giving him three because I wanted to give him a little bit more there, but there weren’t too many opportunities, and we got into some long down distances, which made it tough.”
Part of Lance’s problem was that the Texans’ defense played really well. They matched Lance’s receivers, created consistent pressure, and presented him with a lot of different coverage looks.
“There were some ups and downs for sure,” Lance concluded. “It never feels good to lose, but we will learn from it and turn the page. We’re not going to make a bigger deal out of it than we need to for sure. Yeah, like I said, it never feels good to lose. There was some ugly stuff out there for sure. Man, it definitely wasn’t our best night, but like I said, we’re not going to make too big of a deal out of it. We’ll watch the tape tomorrow, learn from it and get better.”
We’re watching the tape now, and here’s what we saw regarding Lance’s readiness for the regular season. The 49ers open the regular season against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, September 11, so time is of the essence, and there are things to correct.