49ers vs. Lions: Trey Lance finds Trent Sherfield for first NFL touchdown

The 49ers opened up their 2021 scoring with a Trey Lance touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield, giving the rookie quarterback his first NFL score.

San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance finally has his first regular-season NFL touchdown, which just so happened to come on the No. 3 overall draft pick’s first pass outside of the preseason.

The Niners started off their Week 1 regular-season opener against the Detroit Lions with the veteran quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, who fumbled the first snap from center Alex Mack on San Francisco’s first offensive snap in the game.

The Lions recovered, yet the 49ers defense managed to force a missed field goal off the turnover.

So, with a little bit of a reset, it was going to be interesting to see if head coach Kyle Shanahan would go with the rotation he employed during the Niners’ preseason finale versus the Las Vegas Raiders where he regularly rotated Garoppolo and Lance over the first quarter-plus.

Well, Shanahan did.

49ers allow Trey Lance to toss first NFL touchdown pass

Lance managed to get one play in before San Francisco got into the red zone, a 1-yard rush that didn’t generate much. Instead, it was Garoppolo who helped get the 49ers into the red zone and within 5 yards of the goal line.

And that’s where Lance entered the game on a 1st-and-goal from the 5-yard line.

Looking to his left, Lance found wide receiver Trent Sherfield open towards the flat and connected with him for the 5-yard touchdown, Lance’s first regular-season pass going for the score:

Lance and Sherfield connected for the rookie quarterback’s first preseason touchdown last month, an 80-yard score against the Kansas City Chiefs, which was easily more impressive a play.

But this one will be the touchdown that counts. And it’ll also go down as the Niners’ first touchdown of the 2021 season, too.

On the sideline, Garoppolo was quick to congratulate Lance on the rookie’s first pass being a touchdown, and it’s likely we’ll see plenty more of the Garoppolo-Lance rotation over the remainder of this Week 1 bout between San Francisco and Detroit.