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Beathard gets shot at 49ers’ starting QB job

AP PHOTO • San Francisco 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard (3) scrambles out of the pocket during the first half of an NFL game against the Washington Redskins on Sunday in Landover, Md.

LANDOVER, Md. — Now that C.J. Beathard has thrown his first NFL pass and accounted for his first touchdown, the rookie quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers will get a chance to make his first NFL start.

Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said that Beathard did enough to earn the team’s QB job for next weekend’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. Beathard replaced the benched Brian Hoyer in the second quarter of what became a 26-24 loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

Beathard, a third-round draft pick from Iowa, was 19 of 36 for 245 yards, one touchdown and a final-throw interception, coming up just shy of leading the 49ers (0-6) to their first victory under rookie coach Shanahan.

“Just couldn’t get the job done,” Beathard said.

Nothing new for his club, of course.

The 49ers are the first team in NFL history to lose five consecutive games by three points or fewer. They’re also the first to fall five times in a row by a combined 13 points.

“What’s this going to make us? Is it going to make us worse or is it going to make us better in the long run?” Shanahan said. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind — and I don’t know when it’ll be, but — going through stuff like this will make us better.”

He took out Hoyer with their team trailing 14-0 Sunday. Hoyer was 4 of 11 for 34 yards. During his four drives, San Francisco managed two first downs — and one came via a defensive penalty.

But with Beathard in the game, the 49ers went from down 17-0 to tied at 17. Then, after the Redskins (3-2) pulled ahead 26-17 on a 7-yard TD run by quarterback Kirk Cousins, Beathard’s 45-yard scoring toss to Aldrick Robinson made it a two-point game with about 2 minutes left.

As Beathard tried to drive the 49ers to the go-ahead points, they were headed toward the end zone below a sign in the Redskins’ Ring of Fame honoring their former GM Bobby Beathard. He just happens to be the QB’s grandfather.

“Really cool. You look up and you see Grandpop’s name right on the stadium,” the younger Beathard said. “I got so much from him and I try to be just like him.”

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