49ers' Trey Lance leads practice; Jimmy Garoppolo out with thumb injury

On Wednesday, both San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo seemed confident the signal-caller could play in this Sunday's game against the Houston Texans even though he's dealing with a Grade 3 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb and a chipped bone. 

As David Bonilla noted for 49ers WebZone, such optimism is waning. 

Garoppolo was unable to throw in a limited capacity during Wednesday's practice session and also wasn't seen in uniform Thursday. Meanwhile, rookie Trey Lance once again worked with the first-team offense, an indication that he is on track to start versus Houston. 

The 49ers will enter the weekend controlling their playoff destiny but shouldn't expect the 4-11 Texans to gift-wrap Lance a late Christmas present in the form of a win. Houston is coming off back-to-back victories, including a 41-29 upset win over the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday. 

Lance, meanwhile, has only one career NFL regular-season start on his resume. He completed 15-of-29 pass attempts for 192 yards with no touchdowns and an interception with 89 rushing yards on 16 carries in a 17-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals back in Week 5 on Oct. 10.