The big storyline out of Santa Clara this week is who will start on Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers host the Seattle Seahawks at Levi's Stadium. Head coach Kyle Shanahan will use this week's practices to make that decision, and there is no reason for him to show his hand earlier than necessary. Until the 49ers reveal their starter, the Seahawks, who are coming off of a short week following their Monday night loss to the Atlanta Falcons, will have to prepare for both C.J. Beathard and Jimmy Garoppolo.

If you had to take an educated guess at who might start on Sunday, signs point to Beathard making his fifth career start. The rookie quarterback is coming off of the best game of his young career. While leading the 49ers to their first victory of the season – a 31-21 win over the New York Giants on November 12 – Beathard completed 19 of his 25 pass attempts for 288 yards, two passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown, an interception, and a passer rating of 123.4.


General manager John Lynch met with reporters on Tuesday for about 40 minutes and gave the impression he would prefer to see Beathard start on Sunday, but the decision ultimately lies with Shanahan.

Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area joined KNBR on Tuesday and went as far as to say that Beathard gives the 49ers their best chance to beat the Seahawks, which is something San Francisco has been unable to do in its last eight meetings. The statement has nothing to do with Garoppolo's skill level but instead Beathard's experience within Shanahan's offense.

"I think that this game sets up where I think [the 49ers] have a pretty decent chance of beating Seattle," Maiocco said on the "Gary & Larry" show. "And I think that, probably, C.J. Beathard gives them the best chance to beat Seattle right now because he's already prepared in this offense to face Seattle. So, I think he probably has a better working knowledge, even though he's in his first season in the NFL, of how the 49ers game plan or how their offense fits with what Seattle is trying to do.

"With a guy like C.J. Beathard, who you know is going to be around on the team for a while, I think you want to be true to him. You don't want to do anything that kind of alienates him. I think it's just very difficult to take him out of the lineup coming off of that game that he had against the Giants."

While Maiocco believes Beathard starting against Seattle would be the best move for the 49ers, that doesn't mean Garoppolo should not see any on-field action.


"I would think that they would stick with C.J. in this game and this might be the best opportunity or the first opportunity that they've had to try to integrate Garoppolo in there for a series or a few snaps here or there," Maiocco said.

You can listen to the entire interview with Maiocco below.



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