Trey Lance can still command the respect of the rest of the San Francisco 49ers team this season, according to ESPN analyst Dominique Foxworth. 

The Trey Lance era officially started in San Francisco this past weekend, having been named the team’s starter earlier this summer, the 49ers traveled to take on the Chicago Bears, where Lance took on another player who was brought into the NFL during the 2021 Draft, that being Justin Fields. 

The 49ers had a pretty big decision to make this offseason, whether or not they moved onto the man of the future in Lance, or stuck with the man who had taken them to two NFC Conference Championship games and a Super Bowl in the past three seasons in Jimmy Garoppolo.

It was considered something of a risky move, especially when you look at Lance’s numbers from last year that saw him complete just 57.7% of his passes when he was given the chance to play in his rookie year in relief of Garoppolo, and during his six games, which included two starts, could only throw for 603 yards.

And those struggles continued in his first game this past weekend.

Trey Lance leaves a lot to be desired

When you start the season, and especially if it is the first game where you well and truly have control of the team, you want to make a good first impression, but good is far from the right word to describe what Lance did on Sunday, as he went 13/28 (less than 50%), only threw for 164 yards, didn’t throw a touchdown pass and threw an interception. 

Now this can all be tempered by the fact the game was played in near-monsoon conditions at Soldier Field, with the rain coming down so badly that it allowed for some pretty hilarious videos to emerge from the stands.

Video: Chicago Bears fan braves the deluge of Soldier Field:

But even so, it was far from perfect from him in what was meant to be his coming out party, and might leave some 49ers fans and players a little bit unsure of what’s to come, especially considering how well they have done in previous seasons.

But Dominque Foxworth believes that despite his rough start, both last year and the start of this one, there was still a chance for him to turn things around.

Foxworth gave his thoughts on ESPN’s Get Up

“As closely as we watch the 49ers, the 49ers watch the 49ers. They were a part of that team in the playoffs last year, when Jimmy Garoppolo was bad, even the playoff games that they won."

“And my guess is that they'd be willing to sustain whatever growing pains there are as long as Trey Lance has a good play or good game every now and then to give them hope that he can turn into the type of quarterback that they want him to be. I think most players in the locker room, as much as they like Jimmy Garoppolo, they remember what happened last year, and they remember what happened in the Super Bowl. I think they remember that and they have hopes that Trey Lance can transcend some of those mistakes.”

You just have to wonder how long it has to be for that first good play or good game to come before they lose patience. If it doesn’t come by Week 5 say, will that force the 49ers' hand and make them hand the ball back to Garoppolo? Or is it a case that they have made their decision and will stick with it no matter what and hope that it plays off in the long term?