CARSON -- On Sunday, the 49ers played their first game without franchise quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who sustained a season-ending knee injury one week ago in Kansas City.
C.J. Beathard took over for what the 49ers hope will be a 13-game run as the team’s starter. It all began on Sunday in a 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in front of a 49ers-dominated crowd of 25,397 at the StubHub Center.
[BAY]All Things Red and Gold: San Francisco 49ers 2018-19 Season Highlights
Here are three takeaways from the 49ers’ perspective.
C.J. is OK: The 49ers brought in seven free-agent quarterbacks for workouts last week but opted not to sign any of them. The 49ers entered the week with needs at a lot of different positions, and coach Kyle Shanahan is fine with Beathard as the starter and Nick Mullens as the backup.
Beathard showed why Shanahan has so much confidence in him.
This is Beathard’s second full year with the 49ers in Shanahan’s offense, so he likely knows the system better than Garoppolo, who arrived in the middle of last season. Beathard appeared to run the offense well. Beathard did a good job of moving the chains with third-down conversions.
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Beathard threw an interception in the third quarter as the 49ers were driving deep into Chargers territory. Beathard’s on-target pass bounced off the hands of tight end Garrett Celek. Chargers cornerback Trevor Williams made the interception and returned it 86 yards to set up a field goal.
Tight end George Kittle, Beathard’s teammate at Iowa, went to great lengths to make up for it with an 82-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown late in the third quarter.
In his first start of the season, Beathard completed 23 of 37 passes for 298 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Injuries piling up: One week after losing Garoppolo to a season-ending torn ACL, the 49ers have more injury issues heading into next week’s home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The most concerning injury occurred in the second quarter when six-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Staley went down with a right knee injury. Staley got rolled up on from behind while in pass protection. He left the game and was examined. At halftime, the 49ers ruled him out for the remainder of the game.
Backup tackle Garry Gilliam entered the game and played the remainder of the game at left tackle. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey also left the game briefly in the third quarter with a knee injury of his own.
Rookie wide receiver and punt returner Dante Pettis sustained a left knee injury in the first quarter and did not return to action.
More energy on defense: The 49ers’ defense could not have gotten off to a better start despite playing with a pair of reserve safeties. The 49ers also did a better job of tackling early in the game after struggling in that area during the first three games of the season. But some of their old problem were apparent later in the game.
Antone Exum, who started for the second time in a row in place of Jaquiski Tartt, intercepted Philip Rivers on the first possession of the game and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown. DeForest Buckner forced the poor throw with inside pressure to get into Rivers’ face as he was throwing.
Exum punctuated the first TD and first interception of his 32-game NFL career by throwing the ball into the stands, which will subject him to a $6,683 fine from the league.
Rookie D.J. Reed made his first career start. He got the nod at free safety despite the club clearing Adrian Colbert to suit up for the game. Colbert was listed questionable before the game due to a hip contusion.
Linebacker Reuben Foster, who missed six tackles last week, put together a solid game and was a factor from the opening sequences of the game.
Left cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon had another rough out, leading the 49ers to bench him in favor of Greg Mabin in the third quarter.
Rivers, who ranks in the top 10 of every significant all-time NFL passing statistic, completed 25 of 39 passes for 250 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
