John Lynch: C.J. Beathard is making it easier to be patient with Jimmy Garoppolo

The San Francisco 49ers have a decision to make at the quarterback position over the coming week, but for the time being, they don’t seem to be feeling too much pressure. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said they are taking it week-to-week, and do not have a plan of, “Jimmy Garoppolo needs to be starting by Week X.” And now, general manager John Lynch has offered some thoughts of his own.

Lynch sat down with NBC Sports Bay Area for an interview that will air on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PT. He said the 49ers do not need to get Garoppolo out there as soon as possible to get a better assessment of his value to the organization.

“We know what we like about Jimmy Garoppolo. And that’s only been strengthened by the time that’s he’s been here. We’re just going to let these things play out. That’s in Kyle’s hands ... We got Jimmy because we think he has big-time ability at the quarterback position ... Whether that happens, when that happens, we’ll see. But we certainly like his future with the 49ers.”

Quarterback C.J. Beathard put together a strong performance this past week against the New York Giants, and that has the 49ers feeling comfortable in taking their time with Garoppolo.

“We want to set Jimmy up for success and also the way C.J.’s playing is helping us sit back. And now we have a bye week. They’re going to work hard during this week to get him up to speed. But right now, we don’t need him. C.J. just played a great game and his teammates really believe in him. We think it’s nothing but a good situation.”

Beathard had career highs across the board, and while it was against a bad defense, it was still a solid performance. Beathard has been up and down since taking over the starting role, but he is showing signs of being a capable backup in the NFL. Maybe he eventually emerges as a starting option, but at the very least, he provides some solid depth. And in a season like this where it is about looking to the future, there is no need to rush and force things.

Garoppolo is still learning the playbook, and we’ve heard how much time it can take to not only learn the playbook, but get it down in terms of execution. On Sunday, the announcers were talking about how Matt Ryan learned the playbook in year one in Atlanta, but it was year two when he felt sufficiently comfortable. The first year was the rote memorization, while the second year saw him able to in turn finish off play-calls midway through.

There are plenty of conflicting opinions among the fans as to what they want and need to see before the coming offseason. I still think we see Garoppolo on the field sooner than later, but the 49ers are trying to remove whatever pressure there is on the decision.

On the day the trade went down, I put out a poll asking when people thought Garoppolo would make his first start. 51 percent said it would happen either Week 9 or Week 10, 44 percent said “this season after the Week 11 bye,” and five percent said Week 1 of the 2018 season.

Now that we have the first two poll options behind us, let’s ask the question again. When do you think Jimmy Garoppolo will make his first start for the 49ers?