49ers HC Kyle Shanahan squashes idea of using two-quarterback system

Both San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and team CEO Jed York insisted throughout the spring and summer months that veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would start over rookie and third-overall draft pick Trey Lance for at least the 2021 season, but Shanahan teased in the first half of August he could utilize both signal-callers during meaningful games. 

That, simply put, mostly hasn't been the case, as Garoppolo is cemented as the team's QB1 and guided San Francisco to back-to-back victories before last Sunday's nail-biter loss to the Green Bay Packers. Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Shanahan made it clear to reporters Wednesday nobody should expect to see the 49ers embrace a two-quarterback system anytime soon.

"Trey’s our backup quarterback," Shanahan explained. "This isn’t the preseason. We’re not just going back and forth all the time. Trey goes in for specific plays or things we want to do. Trey week in and week out, he gets better each week the more reps he gets on scout team. But there’s not a big decision going into that each week. We put in a game plan for our starting quarterback, the backup needs to be able to do all of that if he gets hurt. And what’s cool about Trey is because of his different skill set we always keep him alive with a couple of plays on situations." 

Shanahan later told the media he never changed his mind about the quarterback issue and added he always only planned to play Lance in certain "situations" this fall. 

"So, I think a lot of words have been put in my mouth with some of that stuff or exaggerated pretty big," the coach continued. "So, I pretty much keep it pretty real to everyone, but I don’t just tell everyone the answer. I have no problem with you guys overdoing that and Detroit working on that extremely hard. But I’ve been pretty consistent with what I’ve said." 

A well-known football adage says a team with two participating quarterbacks actually has no true starter at the position, at all, and Shanahan and company wisely won't want to mess with what worked in September. 

2-1 San Francisco hosts the 1-2 Seattle Seahawks this Sunday.