Making the right choice at QB

In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.

- Craig Massei

Now go ahead and take a breath and exhale. Yes, it really is that vital of a judgment call.

Because the 49ers just can’t get this one wrong, not at this stage with a stacked roster that promises to be the best San Francisco has fielded under the leadership of Shanahan and John Lynch, who together inherited a bottomed-out 2-14 team in 2017 and have since nurtured the culture, commitment, chemistry and camaraderie that have returned the red and gold to NFL prominence.

So is it going to be Trey Lance or Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback this season?

Or both?

Does it even matter?

Heck yes it matters. The 49ers are just the right quarterback away from not only returning to the Super Bowl this season, but this time winning it.

The avalanche of injuries that doomed the 49ers to a 6-10 finish during last year’s bizarrely vexed season played amid the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic are now behind the team. Reinforcements have arrived to further improve the depth behind San Francisco’s cache of frontline stars, three of which are now the NFL’s highest-paid players at their respective positions, with several others not far behind.