A Fair Assessment of Trey Lance's Week 1 Performance

Lance might have been a tad underwhelming, but let’s pump the brakes and analyze why that was the case.

Game 1 of the season did not go as anticipated for the 49ers. Going into this game, nearly every expert and fan chose the 49ers to win handily against a Bears team that has struggled in past seasons. Fortunately for the Bears, weather, solid defense, and costly penalties against the 49ers gave them the edge.

The main talking point coming out of this game seems to be the “underwhelming” performance from Trey Lance. Now, of course, Lance didn’t play great, so I most definitely don’t want to portray a narrative that he lit the world on fire. Although, his performance can be attributed to various byproducts of this game. Overall, Lance was 13-28, with 164 yards, and an interception. That being said, not a spectacular performance. So, let’s get into some reasons why it’s important to not jump the gun just yet and to be patient with Lance moving forward.

Firstly, they played in a damn monsoon. Let’s not act like a muddy field with torrential downpour favors a quarterback, because it doesn’t. Keep in mind, that this was Lance’s first game as the full-fledged starter and he had to play that game in horrible conditions. Granted, weather affects both teams so let’s not act like Lance was the lone adversary to the brutal conditions. Unfortunately, being asked to lead your team in awful conditions in the first regular season game is a tall ask, even for a veteran.

Secondly, the expectations put upon Lance could bring that feeling of disappointment. Let’s call it for what it is: the fanbase put some lofty expectations on a guy that hasn’t been a starting quarterback in around 3 years. This was due partly to wishful thinking, in hopes that Lance would immediately prove that he was indeed the upgrade to his predecessor, Jimmy Garoppolo, like everyone hoped he would be. Consequently, asking Lance to be that right away will garner some disappointment. Furthermore, Lance is young and will have some bumps in the road. After all, as I will get into next, this game really wasn’t on him one bit. So to look at Lance’s stat line and be utterly disappointed -- it’s silly and an uninformed take. Lance will get better, but patience is going to be a valuable asset during the process.

Lastly, my lord, that offensive line was atrocious. Let me present you with a question that I want you to answer: Do you think that it’s fair to judge a quarterback's performance strictly, even if his offensive line was the worst it’s been in years? I'm hoping the answer to that question was no and it should be. Truth be told, the 49ers' offensive line came into game one being a major concern and it left being an even larger one. Mike McGlinchey was atrocious and the rest of the line was getting manhandled. Numerous holding penalties kept the team from any type of consistency and ultimately, it’s what made the upset possible.

To recap: poor weather, too high of expectations, and poor line play have produced a false narrative that Lance is already a bust after one week. I am here to remind you that this will be a part of the process and that it’s important to take this season game by game.