SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Jimmy Garoppolo has Kyle Shanahan's unwavering support after the 49ers' first loss of the season.
Trey Lance? Shanahan will get to him, eventually, when the time calls for it, and now is not the time.
"A lot of words that have been put in my mouth, about some of that stuff, are exaggerated, pretty big," Shanahan said Wednesday of a two-quarterback rotation. "I keep it pretty real with everyone.
"But I just don't tell everyone the answer. I have no problem with you guys overdoing that (two-quarterback storyline) and Detroit working on that extra hard. I've been pretty consistent with what I said."
What Shanahan said early in camp was Lance, as the No. 3 overall draft pick, would play his rookie season. So far, that's amounted to seven snaps in cameo spots behind entrenched starter Jimmy Garoppolo. That said, Lance has produced his first touchdown pass and first touchdown run along the way.
As disjointed as the 49ers (2-1) appear, Shanahan insists that the quarterback situation is not in flux after Sunday night's last-second loss to Green Bay, and not with NFC West action opening Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks (1-2) at Levi's Stadium.
"Trey's our backup quarterback. This isn't the preseason. We're not just going back and forth all the time," said Shanahan, who rotated his quarterbacks at a rapid rate in the preseason finale. "Trey goes in for specific plays or things we want to do."
And what of Garoppolo, who ranks 15th in the NFL with a 101.2 passer rating and 19th with 760 passing yards? Well, he's grown accustomed to questions about Lance's presence, as well as his own lack of downfield passing, the latter of which Garoppolo countered by saying: "I go with the play that's given. We've stretched them pretty well in some different aspects. Whatever's play called, I'll go out there and execute it."
Shanahan said there's no "big decision" week to week on how to use his quarterbacks, that QB1 takes precedence, and that Lance's role as QB2 is to be on call in case of injury, as well as potential cameos.
"There's not a quarterback battle right now," Shanahan said. "We're going with our starting quarterback who I think is playing very well. I'm happy that he is, so Trey isn't thrown into these situations too early."
Too early? That would align with the 49ers' draft-day plans of letting Lance (18 college starts) learn a complex offense behind Garoppolo. "We have a luxury where we don't have to do that yet, to Trey or to our team. Hopefully we won't have to," Shanahan added.
Garoppolo harbored some regrets over how the 49ers' final possession ended Sunday, albeit with his 12-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk. Said Garoppolo: "I wish I would have run some time off the (play) clock. I wish Juice got tackled at the 1. But it is what it is and why we play the game."
