Matt Eberflus: No one really knows how 49ers will use Trey Lance

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Trey Lance won’t be making his first NFL start against the Bears this weekend, but he will be making his first start since being installed as the 49ers’ full-time starter.

While Lance stepped into the starting lineup for Jimmy Garoppolo a couple of times last season, he wasn’t running an offense designed around his skills. Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said on Monday that he doesn’t think those outings will be overly informative about how the 49ers offense is going to look this year.

“You’re projecting a little bit,” Eberflus said, via Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News. “You have to project how they’re going to use the young man and where they’re going to use them in their offense. We certainly have an idea of what this offense looks like. But how they’re going to use him, no one really knows. You have to use your rules, have your calls and make sure you’re sound.”

The 49ers will have to do some feeling out themselves as it is the first time Eberflus and his staff will be coaching the team in a regular season game, but there will likely be more eyes on how they deploy Lance given the bets they made on the quarterback at the top of the 2021 draft and this offseason.