49ers film room: Trey Lance shows positive improvement and growth during a monsoon in Chicago
Trey Lance played about as well as any quarterback would in an unseasonable monsoon in Chicago during week 1. The good and the not so good below.
Trey Lance started his third ever game on the road in week one at Chicago and continued to show why the 49ers drafted him but also showed that he has some stuff to clean up. There is not a lot to take away from a game that was played in a torrential downpour in the second half but nonetheless Lance showed fans why he was the third overall pick and why the 49ers should be encouraged and why fans should as well.
Lance played well and for an individual performance, it was a promising start in the new franchise quarterback’s career even if the game result was less than ideal. The box score does not show it, but Lance moved around the pocket well, hit some big time throws, and converted some third downs with his legs when the play called for it.
His stats, and the offense in general, suffered from one fumble in the red zone, three dropped passes, and 2 throwaways.
He had an interception on a late robber coverage rotation to the middle of the field that was a step late in his process and another turnover worthy throw in the fourth quarter that might have been picked off if not for the weather. But other than that, there was plenty to be encouraged by and as the weeks go on, we should see both Kyle Shanahan and Trey Lance grow more comfortable in the ways they execute the offense as they learn what works and what does not work.
On Lance’s first downfield pass of the game, he was schemed up a defined read on a play action pass that he actually missed in the Texans game when he did not recognize the crosser coming open.
Here, the play call is a basic go route(streak) with a deep cross concept that is read high to low, streak to deep crosser. In the Texans preseason game, Lance hitched too many times into pressure and did not throw the ball. He completed this pass twice in this game.
The Bears came out on first down in cover-3, a tendency of Bears head coach Matt Eberflus that he put on game tape all last season. Last year the 49ers hurt the Colts defense under Eberflus with play action passing on first down and here this play was no exception.
The vertical route by Jennings and the crosser by receiver Brandon Aiyuk causes some traffic over the middle of the field and lifts the coverage off of Aiyuk’s route, helping uncover in the wide open field.
Lance gets a well-defined read and throw but begins his throwing motion before Aiyuk uncovers from the traffic.
Later in the second quarter on second down, the 49ers called the same play and this time Lance hit one of the most impressive throws of his career so far.
Throws like this remind fans why they drafted him. The timing and placement are as good as any that the top quarterbacks in the league throw.
The Bears played cover-3 here on second down.
The safety bails with the vertical go route and the corner starts carry Aiyuk as well, a minor coverage bust where the defender should have passed off the deep route and cut the crosser.
The coverage rotates to the vertical route, leaving safety Eddie Jackson and linebacker Roquan Smith to sink under the crossing route. Lance looks for Aiyuk on the go route but comes off and back to the crosser just as corner Jaylon Johnson and peels off late and back to McCloud.
With the window closing, Lance rips the pass over the outstretched hands of Roquan Smith and into the hands of Ray Ray McCloud for a gain of 20 yards. A fraction of a second later and that pass might be picked off.
He had another big time throw from the far hash on a flag route in soggy conditions but unfortunately Aiyuk was flagged for offensive pass interference.
Aiyuk is running a flag route that turns into an out route, likely modified because the 49ers did not want their receivers making a ton of cuts on the field. At the top of his route, Aiyuk extends his arm to get separation, which he did not need to do, and got flagged for it. Lance drilled him in the chest. An elite throw in that weather. Unfortunately the official closest to the play saw the arm extension and separation and threw the flag.
Later on the next drive, Lance picked up a 14 yard run on 3rd-and-13 after Aiyuk caught a deep out on the sideline from the far hash from Lance but had it called back due to a push-off on the defender.
Lance picks up the first down after making safety Jaquan Brisker miss in the open field. These kinds of plays will be crucial to sustaining drives and scoring points while Lance continues to progress and develop.
On the first drive of the second half, Lance hit another explosive pass play on third down to Jauan Jennings on a slot fade route.
The play call is a slot fade concept to Jennings in the slot with a “now” slant underneath. Versus zone, it would create a pick and get a receiver open in space.
Against the Bears man coverage, it gets Jennings 1-on-1 versus the nickel corner and is a good call considering Jennings is the last person who a defense would think could be running a slot fade.
The defense is in man coverage on third down, meaning all Lance has to do is hold the safety on his drop back, plant and throw the fade.
The inside route and inside release by the tight end also works in tandem with Lance’s eyes and gets the free safety to rotate toward the middle of the field. The result is Jennings getting open on the nickel defender as Lance drops the pass in a bucket. The offense would kick a field goal after they could not punch it in.
Overall, Lance had a decent day considering the conditions and mistakes by those around him. The missed blocks in pass protection, and there were a few that caused him to scramble, the drops, at least three with two of them by Deebo, the fumble in the red zone by Deebo, and the blown coverages by the defense, all help to spread the blame to a total team effort in the loss.
Yet Lance is taking the most criticism it seems this week. And he did have a few head scratching plays that did not help the perception but like he always does, he learns from his mistakes earlier in the game and it serves him well later in the game.
On his interception, it was the result of an inexperienced quarterback versus a pro bowl safety rotating down late in robber coverage. And it was more just a good play by safety Eddie Jackson than anything, definitely something Lance can learn from and will.
The play call is a choice route or arches route to Jennings and a shallow crosser inside of him that pulls the coverage laterally for Lance to hit the choice route behind it.
The Bears are in man coverage on third down again and playing cover-1 robber where Eddie Jackson is the robber safety rotating down to “rob” the middle of the field.
Jackson reads the play and rotates down at the snap. Lance is reading the choice route the whole way because it is the correct throw here versus the coverage.
Jackson jumps the route at the last second and picks it off. The reasons it was picked off were because 1) Jackson is a good safety and made a play and 2) Lance’s extra hitch step made the throw just a bit late.
He predetermined where he wanted to go so if he plants and throws off his first hitch, then it is a completion that just beats the safety. It is something he will learn from. Unfortunately by this point in the game, it did not lead to conditions where either team could comfortably pass or move the ball and there is no use in digging into the later throws in the fourth quarter except for one in particular.
Lance’s inexperience showed through early in the game, as it so often does when he plays, but he’s also shown that he can improve when the same thing happens later and it really is just a matter of getting the needed reps to be consistent.
Late in the first quarter on a third down and medium, Lance had some trouble navigating the pocket and getting his footing before firing an inaccurate pass. Yes, the field conditions were poor, but this is something Lance still does from time to time, looking at the pass rush versus feeling the pass rush, and as a result, his footwork can be a bit wonky at times and lead to errant throws. It is mostly just inexperience.
The route concept he is looking for is the choice concept to his left from Jauan Jennings. Jennings will widen his release and stay on the track of Aiyuk before cutting inside.
Jennings' release on Aiyuk’s path gets the defender to jump outside the route and giving Jennings an easy choice to break inside over the middle. The pass rush comes from up the middle and right guard Aaron Banks pushes his defender through the pocket forcing Lance to navigate and step through. However, he rushes his process and nearly jumps through the pocket instead of stepping up under control and delivering a strike.
Lance’s large step up into the pocket takes him right into the pass rush into the back of his blocker causing him to jump up and throw. His feet are planted in the ground and the throw is behind the receiver. Jennings could have perhaps sat in the zone but Lance probably completes the pass if his feet are set rather than rushed. He needs reps to feel the rush.
Later in the game in the fourth quarter, he managed the rush very well with the same situation, a pass rusher up the middle, and threw a strike to tight end Ross Dwelley in the middle of the field in a tight window.
The play call is all hitches, something the Shanahan tree calls “attack” and it’s meant for every receiver to sit one yard beyond the sticks on a third down.
The Bears are in cover-2 on third down here and run a simulated pressure where the defensive end #55 drops into coverage underneath and the nickel defender adds to the pass rush. The linebackers are in a mugged A-gap pre-snap look.
The edge rusher ends up rushing up the middle on Banks, who does a nice job of using his rusher’s momentum and pushing him through the pocket.
Lance does a good job feeling the rush and stepping through controlled with two hands on the ball before hitting a tight window throw to Dwelley for an 11 yard gain on conversion on third down.
Outlook
If you factor in the first drive of the game where Deebo fumbled in the red zone, Lance converted three of four third downs and hit three explosive pass plays that got the team into scoring position, not to mention a couple of quarterback run calls that turned 2nd and long into 3rd and short to convert. He could have added a touchdown pass had he thrown a better pass to his tight end who was wide open on the tight end leak in the first quarter.
Obviously you want the quarterback to hit that, but if Deebo does not fumble, they score a touchdown on their opening drive. It was that kind of drive early. And that would have changed a lot about how the 49ers approach the rest of the game and I don't think many people are considering that context. They potentially could have won 17-6 or 21-6 depending on how you look at it.
Unfortunately, that is not how this works so Lance and the 49ers offense have some work to do to clean up their mistakes heading into the weekend versus Seattle.