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49ers must live with bumbling offense as QBs learn Shanahan’s complex system

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The only way forward is through. That’s what quarterbacks C.J. Beathard and Jimmy Garoppolo have to keep in mind in learning the intricate 49ers’ offense. No matter who starts at quarterback, it’s going to be messy and sluggish at times.

Throw in plenty of huddle time with players like rookie free agent wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and a offensive line without right tackle Trent Brown, and any team is going to struggle. Beathard did against the Seattle on Sunday in a 24-13 loss. Beathard piloted an offense that gained only 280 yards.

He completed 22 of 38 passes for 201 yards, no touchdowns and an interception that Trent Taylor lost when he was tackled by linebacker Bobby Wagner.

The way 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan teaches and runs his offense, Beathard and Garoppolo are likely in for more awkward moments and just bad plays on offense. That’s what happens when a quarterback doesn’t know the offense.

In the first few drives of the Seattle game, you could see Beathard mental wheels churning. If a quarterback is so concerned about getting the play out, getting everyone lined up and then making the proper adjustments at the line of scrimmage, there’s not a lot of room for actually throwing an accurate pass or making the right read.

That might be one reason Beathard didn’t side step the Seattle rush. Instead of juking an on-rushing defender, Beathard is probably thinking, “OK where’s my secondary receiver? Where’s my out let? Did they have adjust their route because of the defense?”

At one point, Beathard launched a pass way over Marquise Goodwin’s head after Goodwin, seeing a safety on ahead of him, stopped and turned back to Beathard. Goodwin likely made the right move because of the safety’s presence. However, Beathard just probably thought, “he’s just going deep and I’m heaving it.”

That’s the likely reason the 49ers punted three times and then had the Taylor fumble to start the game. According to those that know the Shanahan offense, there’s three levels to learning it. The first is where Garoppolo is right now. If he plays, Shanahan well tell him a number, and he’ll look at a wrist band and then spit out the play in the huddle.

Beathard is at the second tier, where Shanahan can relate the play and he can then recite it in the huddle. The third level is where league MVP Matt Ryan was last year in Atlanta with Shanahan as his offensive coordinator. Shanahan would say the first line or two of the play, and Ryan knew the rest and would communicate it to the team.

Level three typically doesn’t come until a quarterback has spent at least two years in the offense. Garoppolo doesn’t even have four weeks. Here is an example of a play Shanahan would call:

Alert Jazz
Y short to gun
Bunch right plus 17 stanley
Can 4 jet spread 2 basic
Alert H3 cobra

Then the play could change once the quarterback gets to the line of scrimmage and sees the defensive adjustments. It’s likely a reason why Beathard excelled against the Seahawks when he was in the two-minute offense at the end of the half and the game. In the “quick game” as they call it, there’s only time to yell out the play get to the line and go.

In those situations, the just reacting Beathard completed 12 of 16 passes for 98 yards. Much of that yardage was given to him by the retreating Seattle secondary at the end of the game, however, Beathard was accurate in those situation when he was just reacting rather than setting up the play with a long call in the huddle and then making an adjustment at the line.

Beathard and Garoppolo certainly need to know the entire Shanahan scheme, not just the quick game. And once they do, Shanahan can truly display his abundant skills as a play caller. But until that happens, this offense is going to lurch and sputter and the quarterbacks are likely going to have brain lock, which Beathard had to start the game.

Could Shanahan go slower, and not be so complex when the quarterbacks and the rest of the offense are learning his scheme? Maybe. But there’s no way around this learning process. The quarterbacks can’t go around it, or over it.

Hence, the only way forward is through.