49ERS REPORT CARD

Handing out grades to the 49ers as they close in on the midpoint of their 2020 season along with the bottom line at each positional area of the team.

- Craig Massei

QUARTERBACKS: C

The plan was for Jimmy Garoppolo to build on the excellent numbers he produced last season while guiding the 49ers to the Super Bowl and take the next step to the top echelon of NFL quarterbacks. But not much has gone according to plan for the 2020 49ers in this peculiar season where nothing has seemed quite right for San Francisco from the very start. That’s particularly true at quarterback, where not even Plan B (Nick Mullens) or Plan C (C.J. Beathard) has worked out well for the team.

Garoppolo, indecisive in the pocket and throwing late, could not lead the 49ers to a fourth-quarter comeback victory in the opener against Arizona, a task he had been successful at four times during the team’s dominant 2019 season. That set the early tone for the season, and Garoppolo’s development was further thwarted by a high ankle sprain early in Week 2 at New York, an injury that kept him out the next 2½ games. Garoppolo had the worst start of his career upon his return in Week 5, making observers wonder if he should have even been out on the field.

Mullens was terrific in his Week 3 start in place of Garoppolo, running the offense superbly and passing for 343 yards during a 369 rout over the New York Giants. But his weaknesses were exposed in Week 4 against Philadelphia, when Mullens committed three killer turnovers and was eventually pulled in favor of Beathard, who looked good leading a late rally against the Eagles’ soft prevent defense. But when getting a longer look after Garoppolo was pulled in Week 5, Beathard looked like a fourth-year quarterback who had made little improvement since the last time he played in a game in 2018.