The 49ers’ season took an immediate and irreversible turn on Sunday in Kansas City when Jimmy Garoppolo sustained a season-ending knee injury.
Now, the outside expectations change dramatically for a team that many believed could be on the fringe of the NFC playoff race. The 49ers begin their new reality of life after Jimmy on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Here are four players to watch, as the 49ers enter Sunday’s game as a prohibitive underdog.
QB C.J. Beathard: Beathard started five games as a rookie with mixed results. As he takes over with 13 games remaining in the season, the 49ers believe he is in a better position to succeed with a stronger supporting cast.
“I just think our entire offense will be better,” Kyle Shanahan said on “49ers Game Plan,” which airs Saturday at 8 p.m. on NBC Bay Area (Ch. 3). “I think he got thrown into a situation where the guys around him weren’t playing at their best at that time. We were struggling in the run game, also. We had some injuries and guys going in and out on the offensive line.
“I think we’ll protect a little better. I know we have a better run game. Our receivers are better. And all of that will allow him to be better.”
The 49ers brought in seven free-agent quarterbacks for tryouts this week, but there was never any question that Shanahan believes Beathard is the best option among all of those free agents. Nick Mullens is up from the practice squad to serve as Beathard’s backup.
Sports
CB Jimmie Ward: Ward is a high-priced backup who has a chance to begin to earn some of his hefty $8.5 million salary as a starter. He will play right cornerback, while Ahkello Witherspoon will start on the left side in place of Richard Sherman.
Sherman is likely to be sidelined for at least two games with a right calf strain. Sherman said the injury has nothing with the offseason surgeries to repair a torn Achilles in his left leg or remove bone spurs from his right heel. He said, rather, the injury calf injury is a result of not being able to practice for eight months while rehabbing from the surgeries.
Ward will get an opportunity to regain his confidence as a cornerback. He should be tested early and often on Sunday against Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, who ranks in the top-10 of nearly every significant all-time passing statistical category.
Ward started last week in place of Witherspoon. Now, Ward and Witherspoon are the starters on a defense Rivers will look to dissect with his intermediate and deep passes.
“He trusts his wide receivers, and he trusts his arm,” Ward said. “So he’s definitely going to throw the ball where he thinks his guys can make a play.”
LB Reuben Foster: Foster made his return to the lineup last week in Kansas City after serving a two-game suspension for violations of the NFL’s policies on substances of abuse and personal conduct.
Foster had seven tackles, but he had six missed tackles. Because of his instincts and pursuit skills, Foster will get plenty more opportunities on Sunday to make tackles. But he has to get his fundamentals in line to finish the tackles.
“Just having your head down and not running your feet and just not stepping on toes,” Foster said. “That’s uncalled for, just missing tackles like that.”
The Chargers will get the ball into the hands of running back Melvin Gordon repeatedly in the running and passing games. The onus will fall mostly on Foster to keep the yardage to a minimum.
FB Kyle Juszczyk: The 49ers have gone mostly with two-back sets this season. Matt Breida, who enters the week as the NFL’s co-leader with 274 rushing yards, and Alfred Morris have been splitting the chores. The constant at fullback is Juszczyk.
And when the 49ers use one back on some third downs, it is Juszczyk who typically has remained on the field due to his prowess in pass protection as well as his ability to run routes and catch the ball.
Juszczyk could become an even-more important part of the 49ers’ offense with Beathard taking over at quarterback. Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley could decide to bring more pressure, which will test Juszczyk in blitz pickup situations. The former Harvard tight end is also capable of getting out of the backfield to exploit matchups for big gains.
