The San Francisco 49ers have 11 more games to play this season and judging by Sunday's performance against the once-winless Arizona Cardinals, each will be a fight as the team struggles to add another win to its record.
While the 49ers dominated statistically on Sunday, turnovers cost them the win. Quarterback C.J. Beathard was 34-of-54 passing for 349 yards while reaching career-highs in completions, attempts, and passing yards. He also contributed to four of the team's five turnovers with two interceptions and two lost fumbles.
When Jimmy Garoppolo went down for the season, many around the NFL reportedly hoped the 49ers would make a move for a new starting quarterback. The league's desire was financially driven. San Francisco, after all, has five prime-time games scheduled. Although, that may soon change thanks to flexible scheduling.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network joined KNBR on Monday morning and discussed the 49ers' decision to stick with Beathard and how the team simply may not have another option.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they do hit the market and kind of look around but you've got to kind of know what you're getting out there," Rapoport said on the "Murph & Mac" show. "They're not going to get someone to come in and save the [situation]. The only starting-caliber player available is Colin Kaepernick, which is not happening.
"Are they going to trade draft capital for Nick Foles? For what? To finish 5-10 instead of whatever else it might be? I don't see it.
"Now, it's going to be miserable to go through if this is what happens. It's going to be not fun for anyone. Probably helpful in the long run because of the draft pick situation but not fun at all. I just don't see a savior anywhere."
If the 49ers did add a quarterback to their roster, it would likely be one of the seven the team worked out on September 25. Names like Landry Jones, EJ Manuel, Tom Savage, and others who would be brought in to back up Beathard, not start.
Rapoport went on to say that the amount of injuries the 49ers have sustained this season has been unfair, but he doesn't see a lot of options outside of just allowing this season to play out and regrouping during the offseason. And it will almost certainly be general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan trying to right the ship. Neither is going anywhere. They each received six-year contracts for a reason and will be given the time to rebuild the roster how they see fit. Remember, they are just in year two of a massive overhaul.
"It does avoid calling for their heads because they are not getting fired," Rapoport said. "Not this year, not next year. They're not getting fired. What it does do is it kind of forces everyone to kind of take a deep breath.
"Now, for this year, I know the 49ers were the media darlings, (others said) they're my pick to do whatever this year. I never quite thought they were like that. Now, maybe they could have been a wildcard team if they really caught fire. It could have been like the Rams last year. Everything went well, perfect, could have caught some fire, get everyone feeling maybe they could make a wildcard. But they are not there yet.
"Of course, this year is horrendous but this is still a rebuilding year, and I wish every time people sort of talked about where the 49ers are, they could just watch games before the [Lynch and Shanahan] got here because it was obviously very bad. It takes a while to climb out of that hole.
"Again, this year is going to be horrible. It's going to be terrible. But in the long run, it's literally just one year in a rebuilding process."
Rapoport doesn't believe Lynch or Shanahan deserves the blame for what has transpired this season.
"Who's to blame when the quarterback has a freak knee injury, and their running back has an even freakier knee injury?" asked Rapoport. "Yes, any team is going to be much, much worse when they lose two of their best players."
You can listen to the entire interview with Rapoport below.
