It would have been understandable if 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan decided to pull starting quarterback Nick Mullens in favor of C.J. Beathard during his team's 23-15 loss to Washington on Sunday, but Mullens was able to avoid getting the hook by leading the offense on a scoring drive before Shanahan was able to make that call.
Shanahan told reporters during his postgame press conference that he thought about pulling Mullens after he threw a pick-six to Washington safety Kamren Curl to cause the 49ers to fall into a 23-7 hole at the end of the third quarter. But Mullens rebounded on the next drive to lead the 49ers to a touchdown and a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 23-15, which caused Shanahan to hold back from making a change.
"Yeah I did (think about pulling Mullens) after the pick-six," Shanahan said. "It wasn't all on Nick. We didn't play good around him either. But I did after the pick-six. But I wanted to give C.J. a chance to warm up, so he was warming up during the next drive. And during the next drive, Nick made some big third downs and we went down there and scored. After he took us on a scoring drive I changed my mind."
The interception was one of two turnovers Mullens committed on the day that were returned for touchdowns, with the first one being a fumble that was scooped up and turned into a score by defensive end Chase Young in the second quarter. Mullens told reporters after the game he wasn't aware of Shanahan giving consideration to putting Beathard in the game and was focused more on doing what he needed to do to bring the 49ers back to within striking distance.
"You just always answer back," Mullens said. "You have to be relentless, resilient and always keep fighting. That's what I'll always do, no matter what the situation is -- focus on the details, keep fighting, focus on the next play, and just keep pushing to be better."
Regardless of his ability to rebound from the pick-six, Mullens knows he and the offense need to do a better job of avoiding turnovers in the weeks ahead. The offense as a whole committed three turnovers that led to 17 Washington points, which ultimately cost them the game. Chances are Shanahan won't hesitate to give Beathard a chance if Mullens can't hang onto the football in the future.
"It's just focus on the details, working during the week, and just taking care of the football," Mullens said. "At some point it has to be done to give this team a chance to win. If you turn the ball over you're not going to win football games. That's what it comes down to."
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