San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters following Monday night's loss that he had not had a chance to consider who will be the Week 12 starting quarterback against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Shanahan was, after all, just minutes removed from a disappointing game he felt his squad should have won.
While Shanahan was a bit more confident about his quarterback situation on Tuesday, he still would not fully commit to Nick Mullens starting for the remainder of the season. For now, however, the quarterback remains the starter.
"Nick Mullens is our starter until I say differently," Shanahan told reporters. "Going about it that way and that's how it will continue to be."
Mullens was impressive during his NFL debut against the Oakland Raiders on November 1. He completed 16-of-22 pass attempts for 262 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 151.9 in the dominant 34-3 victory.
11 days later, against the struggling New York Giants, Mullens completed 27-of-39 pass attempts for 250 yards with a touchdown, two picks, and a passer rating of 73.7 in the 27-23 defeat.
Shanahan doesn't view Monday night's performance as a setback for the young quarterback.
"I think it's a positive experience," Shanahan said. "The guy has played one game in his career. I know statistically, that was the best (debut) start in NFL history, but I think Nick did some real good things yesterday too. [...] He did some good things at the beginning, some good things at the end, and had some plays at the beginning he missed, and some plays at the end he missed.
"What I liked about Nick, he never seemed rattled throughout the whole game, continued playing. He was great after the game. He was great just watching the film with him."
Shanahan was frustrated when Mullens missed what he thought was a big opportunity against the Giants, but changed his mind after looking over the film with his quarterback on Tuesday.
"There was one that I thought live that he should've got to a deeper guy from my view on the sidelines, and I got on him for it because I wanted a bigger pass," Shanahan said. "I thought it was there; he was open. He just sits there, and listens, and takes it. Then I watched the film. If he would've gone for what I wanted, I think it would've been a sack, and it would've been second-and-15.
"So that stuff, I like. He's got a feel for that in the pocket. I always want him to be aggressive and go down the field and have bigger plays but not at the expense of risking a sack. I think he's done a good job with that."
The 49ers have six games remaining, and Shanahan would like to see Nick, along with the rest of his players, continue to improve.
"He's a good pocket passer, but I want him to be perfect at it," Shanahan added.
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