Injury Frustrates Garoppolo, Opens Door For Lance

Questions about whether there actually is a quarterback competition in San Francisco can finally be put to rest. At least for a couple of weeks. An injury to Jimmy Garoppolo has opened the door for rookie Trey Lance to take the reins, leaving Lance optimistic but Jimmy G frustrated.

"I've been in the situation too many times, and it's getting real old," said Garoppolo. "So it's just one of those things, but a part of the business though."

The oft-injured Garoppolo struggled in the first half of the game against the Seahawks on Sunday, completing 14 of 23 passes for 165 yards, one touchdown and an interception. He now seems likely to be sidelined by the injury for at least a couple of weeks.

"It was just tough. Put a lot into this and hate to have this happen, but hopefully it's just a small hiccup in the road for now," added Garoppolo.

It's now on Lance to right the ship for the 49ers (2-2), who have dropped two straight games. They square off with Arizona (4-0) next weekend in what will likely be Lance's first career start.

"Yeah, I'm definitely excited," Lance said following the game. "I'm excited to learn, like I said, learn as much as I can from this one. And then turn the page after these 24 hours and get started on Arizona."

Lance, the 3rd overall pick of this year's NFL Draft, finished the loss to Seattle with two passing touchdowns, 157 yards through the air and another 41 on the ground. Head coach Kyle Shanahan implied post game that Lance's first extended performance went as expected:

"Some good, some bad. He got thrown in not expecting to get in and I thought he ran the ball well, he hit some passes, obviously missed some passes. Was in a tough situation there when we were down two scores. Did a good job moving the chains a couple of times with his legs, but it looked like a typical first game."

Now that he has the keys to the car, at least for a while, Lance will determine just how far the San Francisco offense goes.