The only place a San Francisco 49ers quarterback controversy exists is on social media. Inside the building, there is no debate on who the team's starting quarterback is and who it will be going forward. Head coach Kyle Shanahan made that clear on Wednesday.
Nick Mullens filled in for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo this past weekend against the New York Giants and was impressive. He finished the game 25-of-36 for 343 yards with a touchdown and a passer rating of 108.9.
The coach was asked if there was anything that Mullens can do during the upcoming game or games, should Garoppolo remain sidelined, to win the starting job.
"No, that scenario doesn't exist," Shanahan responded. "But I don't think past one game either. That's for you to do.
"This is Jimmy's team. He's done a hell of a job for us, and when he's healthy, he'll be playing again for us."
As for Garoppolo, the team will be cautious with its franchise quarterback. He will not practice on Wednesday, but Shanahan hopes to see him either on Thursday or Friday to gauge where he is in his recovery from the high-ankle sprain suffered during the Week 2 win over the New York Jets.
"He's just got to be able to be healthy in terms of if he can run around and protect himself, make throws," Shanahan explained. "Any time you're dealing with an ankle, you might feel alright when you're standing there, but can you move around and get into awkward positions without hurting yourself? That's really what we'd have to see.
"It would be tough for us to see that and truly judge that if he didn't get into practice. So hopefully he can get out there for at least one live period, and we have those all the way up to Friday. We've just got to see that he's healthy. But that won't be able to happen if we can't get him into practice."
