Trey Lance Starts Hot, Then Finishes Cold in 49ers Debut Against Chiefs

Trey Lance has officially stoked the flame.

The noise and narratives for Lance to start Week 1 is going to increase this week after his solid outing against the Chiefs. Lance actually got a chance to run with the starters, which was to be expected since the Chiefs kept their starting defense out for the first two drives of the game.

From the jump, Shanahan dialed up a play-action shot play for Lance who exited the pocket a few yards to his right and NAILED it right at Brandon Aiyuk. Unfortunately, Aiyuk uncharacteristically dropped the pass that would have been a first down. That essentially ended a sustained drive that Lance could have tallied with the starters.

On his second series, Lance showed you all what the rest of the local media and I have been seeing -- the deep ball. Lance was on the money on a cool 80-yard pass to training camp stud Trent Sherfield. These two have connected since Day 1 and it came to light with everyone watching. Lance was on fire to start the game until the two-minute warning when some of his decision making and throws were egregious.

Lance finished mid-way through the third-quarter and completed 5 of 13 passes for 128 yards and a touchdown. His completion percentage is horrific, but three drops from Aiyuk, Travis Benjamin, and Richie James Jr. didn't help. Lance was also sacked four times in the game and faced a hefty amount of pressure on his dropbacks. The pressure was as expected, and it is not like Shanahan truly unleashed Lance's physical skills with read options or any scrambles.

Regardless, it does not hurt how silky smooth he looked from the start, especially after the lone series Jimmy Garoppolo got in the opener. Garoppolo looks like... himself. Nothing knew. He dumps it off to his skill players and lets them boost his passing yards. Lance might as well have been out there with the starters just to get him going. The mistakes that Lance made look similar to Garoppolo. The glaring issue with that is that Lance has only been in the system for over three months and adds the element of deep passes and running.

What I was impressed with the most is that Lance never looked panicked or flustered despite the pressure. He looks like he's been in the system for years, whereas Garoppolo looks like he's still learning the offense. Imagine what Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk were thinking seeing Lance make that throw to Sherfield. They must've been thinking" Finally! Chunk plays for us!"

On the other hand, imagine what Garoppolo was thinking. It would not shock me to see him start letting it fly against the Chargers. Only problem is he is not capable of throwing deep at ease and will likely only worsen his situation. How to best illustrate this is like a kid learning how to ride a bicycle. Lance doesn't need the training wheels. He is ready to ride on his own and learn from any falls he takes. Garoppolo still requires training wheels and sometimes a parent (Shanahan) to help him.

Hopefully a game like this will entice Shanahan to finally give Lance reps with the starters on both sides. All in all, Lance looked solid today and added some fuel to the flame. If he can improve upon this performance next week against the Chargers, then it will create a major turning point in the starting battle against the Raiders in Week 3.