The No. 1 Thing Going for the 49ers in 2022

The No. 1 thing going for the 49ers in 2022 should be Trey Lance.

Switching from a physically-limited mistake-prone veteran quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo to a physically-off-the-charts youngster in Lance should be the move that puts the 49ers over the top. Lance should be a big upgrade at such an important position.

But Lance has started only three games since 2019. The 49ers mostly didn't play him last season, because they wanted to give Jimmy Garoppolo one more opportunity to make a Super Bowl run, but he fell short.

So now the 49ers turn the team over to an inexperienced Lance. Ideally, they would have started him at least half of last season so he would be ready to excel right away this season, but they didn't do that. So Lance could struggle early in the season as he goes through the growing pains the 49ers should have let him experience last season.

But if Lance struggles early in the season, the 49ers still can win games because of their elite defense. That's the No. 1 thing going for the 49ers this year and every year. It allows the 49ers to win during the first couple months of the season while the offense figures itself out.

Garoppolo was a notorious slow-starter for the 49ers. His best games typically came in November (if he was healthy that late in the season). Which means the defense carried him, just as it can carry Lance until he's more confident.

Without this elite defense, Lance would be under even more pressure as a first-year starter than he already is.