Report: Some 49ers players, coaches believe team is better starting Jimmy Garoppolo 

It was reported on Monday that some members of the Los Angeles Rams believe that the San Francisco 49ers will be a better team with veteran Jimmy Garoppolo as their starting quarterback over second-year option Trey Lance after Lance suffered a season-ending broken right ankle in Sunday's 27-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks. 

Such individuals within the Rams may not be alone. 

NFL insider Michael Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle (h/t 49ers WebZone) says that there are people in the 49ers' facility who believe the franchise is more likely to win with Garoppolo back under center. 

"[T]his is the part no one wants to say publicly, but something several players and coaches enunciated privately in the wake of Sunday's game — the 49ers are a better team right now with Garoppolo at quarterback than they were with Lance," Silver reported. 

Lance struggled throughout the Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears and completed just 13-of-28 passes for 164 yards with no touchdowns and an interception, and multiple individuals throughout the NFL community later wondered out loud if head coach Kyle Shanahan would go back to Garoppolo sooner rather than later if Lance didn't flip a figurative switch this month. 

"For all of Lance's potential, coach Kyle Shanahan's plan to have the raw second-year player learn on the job while quarterbacking a team built to win now was not universally acclaimed inside the locker room," Silver added in his piece. "Garoppolo, 35-16 as a Niners starter, inspires more hope, at least in the short term.

"That's partly because Garoppolo quarterbacked the team to the brink of a championship three seasons ago, and very nearly helped get them back to the Super Bowl last January. He accomplished the latter despite painful injuries to his throwing shoulder and thumb, and with very little margin for error, earning a ton of locker-room capital along the way."

Garoppolo has started two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl during his 49ers tenure and elected to stay with the team through the start of the 2022 season via a restructured contract rather than demand to be traded or released after he was replaced atop the depth chart by Lance. Jimmy G is now cemented as his employer's QB1 for the foreseeable future and will start the upcoming "Sunday Night Football" matchup at the 1-1 Denver Broncos.