Can Trey Lance Cement Himself as the 49ers Indefinite Starter?
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Trey Lance is practically a lock to start Sunday against the Texans.
It will be his second career start and first since he played in Week 5 against the Cardinals.
Lance has been getting raved about for the past month from players and coaches on the 49ers. From Fred Warner to Mike McDaniel, Lance's improvements and impressive play in practice has not gone unnoticed to the team. Expectations should be tempered as lighting it up on the practice scout team will not translate too much to a real live game.
However, what if the hype with Lance is real and he balls out the next two games?
Assuming Jimmy Garoppolo is still on the mend in Week 18, Lance will have had two consecutive starts. And if he looks superb in those games, an actual driving force to success for the 49ers, then the 49ers will have an Alex Smith/Colin Kaepernick situation on their hands. It would be tough to consider Garoppolo for a playoff game if Lance looks sweet the final two games.
Can Lance cement himself as the 49ers indefinite starter?
Even if he looks great, I sincerely doubt he can.
Kyle Shanahan has been adamant from the moment they drafted Lance that he is the backup, while Garoppolo is the starter. I do not envision that changing at all. The only way it will change is if he has no choice. If Garoppolo still can't throw well enough with his injured thumb, then risking him and limiting the offense even more does not behoove Shanahan to play Garoppolo.
Lance could look amazing and Shanahan would still roll with Garoppolo in the Wild Card round should the 49ers make it there. How I see it, Lance is going to get the start in these final two games, then the 49ers will be faced with a decision to start Garoppolo or Lance in the Wild Card game. I would lean toward Garoppolo getting the start, barring health, no matter what. I just can't envision Shanahan "riding the hot hand" as Jim Harbaugh once did.
Although, when the hot hand was ridden, that garnered some pretty impressive results en route to a Super Bowl appearance. Perhaps history will repeat itself in this case. I just wouldn't bet against the stubbornness or dedication to the season long plan of Shanahan to start Garoppolo.
Regardless, Lance would need to look sweet the next two games to even make this a discussion, so there are some hurdles to get through before that decision ever arises. But if that decision does come, that entire Wild Card week will be insanely debated with Lance and Garoppolo.
