Jerry Rice isn’t blaming C.J. Beathard, says 49ers teammates need to help the young quarterback

Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice played with some outstanding quarterbacks during his NFL career. He knows a thing or two about what a signal caller needs to succeed. Rice joined 95.7 The Game on Monday morning, as he does every week, and discussed the San Francisco 49ers' latest loss as the team dropped to 1-4 on the season.

One specific area of discussion surrounded backup-turned-starting quarterback (actually, backup-turned-starter-turned-backup-turned-starter) C.J. Beathard. He had career-highs in completions (34), attempts (54), and passing yards (349) against the Arizona Cardinals during Sunday's 28-18 defeat.

Beathard also continued to hold onto the football as the pass rush engulfed him and threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles. Rice doesn't believe Beathard's miscues are entirely his fault and said the players around him need to step things up to help the second-year quarterback succeed.

Rice was asked if the 49ers should consider a quarterback change.

"I think C.J. is the guy, to be honest with you guys," Rice answered on the "Joe, Lo, and Dibs" show. "Yeah, they're going to take the beating. Now, it's going to be up to that offensive line to give him more time. But it's also going to be up to those extra parts too like the receivers to get separation, so he doesn't have to hold on to the ball. So, everybody plays an important part here.

"Those running backs, they're going to have to be able to carry the load and run the football and take some of that pressure off him. So everybody work together as a chain. If you do that, then you're going to see C.J. start to really blossom more."

You can listen to the entire conversation with Rice below.