Grades, analysis from 49ers nail-biting win Week 1 over Lions

The 49ers put away the Lions 41-33 Week 1 in a game that was simultaneously a blowout and a nail-biter. Niner Noise grades the winning performance.

The San Francisco 49ers first looked like a team trying to get in sync during their 2021 regular-season opener against the Detroit Lions, which happens when the defense has to stop a fourth-down attempt only to get back onto the field immediately following a fumbled snap.

Then the Niners looked like a powerhouse, cruising to a 41-17 lead on the backs of a potent offense. Then they looked lost, giving up 16 points in under two minutes to make what was a blowout a close game they barely eked out.

Which team are they going to be in the future? That much is unclear.

There are a lot of ways to interpret a game like this and a performance that ended up the way it did, and Week 1 is not always indicative of a team’s future prospects. But as we recap Week 1, let’s take a look at how the 49ers position groups did against the Lions in what ultimately turned into an exciting-yet-nerve-wracking 41-33 win for San Francisco.

49ers Quarterbacks

Players: Jimmy Garoppolo, Trey Lance

Grade: B+

For the first time, a quarterbacks grade has to include multiple players. And though Trey Lance got only five snaps total, his touchdown pass is a definite win for the 49ers.

The running plays are less so, but perhaps those were an attempt to set something up in the future.

This game, though, belonged to Jimmy Garoppolo. With a history of starting off slowly in Week 1, as his prior performances with poor interceptions and ill-fated decisions attest to, Garoppolo needed a good game, not only to start the season off on the right note but also give him some confidence following what was functionally a quarterback competition he will eventually lose.

Garoppolo started off in the worst way possible, fumbling a snap from center Alex Mack. But from then, he looked as efficient as he had at his best.

Garoppolo will always have issues with slightly inaccurate ball location that may kill yards-after-catch ability at times, and while those issues flared up in this game, he was able to get the ball where it needed to be the majority of the time. Most importantly, he worked in the pocket efficiently when he had time, he was able to show some semblance of elusiveness when pressure was too much to handle, and he was able to find the correct read and fire capable passes when staring down the barrel of pressure, even if the passes weren’t always the prettiest.

To say Garoppolo played a perfect game would be unfair, given how there are things he still needs to improve upon that showed this game. But he played exceptionally well, and the 49ers will take this level of performance for him every game. That type of effort is absolutely worth a high grade.