A former NFL coach is not a fan of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Trey Lance. Mike Martz recently appeared on The 33rd Team and talked about the 49ers and Chicago Bears quarterback situation. Martz was critical of Bears QB Justin Fields but didn’t hold anything back when he shared his thoughts on Lance.
“I want [49ers coaches’] eyeballs here,” Martz said, per TMZ Sports. “I’ve never seen anything about this kid that was encouraging at all.” Martz, who was the offensive coordinator when the St. Louis Rams (now Los Angeles Rams) won the Super Bowl during the 1999 season, went on to say he has no idea “what [Lance] is.”
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“He looked like a fullback stumbling around, trying to run the ball to me,” Martz continued. “He’s not particularly a good guy running with the football — and based on what I saw today, I mean, he missed two guys completely by themselves.” Martz also said that Lance “can only go up. He can only get better because you can’t get any worse than what he did today.”
Lance, who was named the 49ers’ starting quarterback before the start of the season, completed just 13 of his 28 passes for 164 yards and one interception while rushing for 54 yards on 14 carries in the team’s 19-10 loss to the Bears on Sunday. After the game, Lance explained why the 49ers struggled in the season opener.
“We made too many mistakes. Defense kept us in the game,” Lance said, per the team’s official website. “I had a big miss to Tyler Kroft in the end zone. I tried to throw a perfect ball, but I should’ve just put it right on him, he was wide open. Turned the ball over, took a sack, then knocked us out of field goal range. I shouldn’t have missed Deebo Samuel on the third down, missed another third down to Jauan Jennings – just too many mistakes. I have a lot of stuff to clean up for sure. But man, I’m excited. I’ve still got my head up. I’m excited to get ready to go next week.”
After helping the Rams win the Super Bowl in 1999, Martz became the head coach of the team from 2000 to 2005 and got them to the Super Bowl in 2001. He also spent time as an offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions as well as the 49ers and Bears.
