Beathard showing how tough he is

SANTA CLARA >> Football is a physical game — a violent game — but 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard seems to take that truth to a new level.

In his seven games as the Niners’ starter at the most important position in the sport, Beathard has taken a downright beating. On Sunday, against the Chargers, he took eight hits plus a few more on rushing plays, and each was seemingly more vicious than the one before it.

Given the level of punishment, It’s truly incredible

Beathard was able to finish Sunday’s game. And if he continues to take hits at this rate, it’ll be truly incredible if he finishes the season.

With the playoffs effectively out of the picture for the 1-3 Niners, the final 12 games of their season are shaping up to be a sick (but unwitting) experiment: How much of a beating can a quarterback take before his spirit — or something more tangible — breaks?

Because while it would be easy to write off Sunday’s QB battering as a one-time thing — a byproduct of an injured offensive line and a quarterback who was making his

first start of the season — there’s simply no indication that Beathard will take fewer hits going forward this year.

In fact, things might get worse, starting Sunday against the Cardinals.

As of Wednesday, the 49ers’ five-man offensive line has one healthy starter, so it’s fair to say that Beathard won’t be getting superior protection going forward. Left tackle Joe Staley has a knee injury and is unlikely to play on Sunday, center Weston Richburg was injured on the first play against the Chargers and toughed his way through the game, right guard Mike Person has been playing with an injured foot, and right tackle Mike McGlinchey

injured his left knee against the Bolts.

(Here’s some good news: left guard Laken Tomlinson is healthy and playing well.)

Staley, Richburg and McGlinchey didn’t practice Wednesday, and while none have been officially ruled out for Sunday, the ambiguity certainly doesn’t project confidence.

Best-case scenario: the three Wednesday absentees play with limitations Sunday.

Worst-case scenario: the 49ers are going to be amalgamating a line from swing tackles and recent practice squad players. Oh, and while the Cardinals might be 0-4, they do have the sixth-highest sack rate in the NFL this season. If this Arizona team can do one thing, it’s get after the quarterback.

Looking at the shape of this 49ers offensive line,

it could well be open season on Beathard on Sunday. Compounding the serious issue is Beathard’s seemingly masochistic desire to be hit. This guy just doesn’t know when to go down.

Last season, Beathard was sacked 19 times in six games. Against the Seahawks in Week 12, he was hit 14 times in one game. Now, a lot of that has to do with a bad offensive line — it was terrible last year and attrition has it trending that way again this season — but some of it has to do with Beathard.

Because while Jimmy Garoppolo took a pounding at the end of last year and certainly at the beginning of this season, Beathard seems to take it to a whole other level. Whether he wants to be or not, he’s a magnet for contact.

On Wednesday, I asked

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan what he and his coaches could do to keep Beathard from being a crash-test dummy going forward.

And if you read between the (appreciated and warranted) snark, you’ll see that there’s simply not much the Niners’ coaches can do to save Beathard from himself.

“That’s what we work on all week,” Shanahan said. “Try to get rid of the ball versus pressure. You try to get guys open faster. We could not get him hit if we ran the ball every single play.”

Compare that to Beathard’s comment that Shanahan only pointed to one play on the Chargers’ game tape where the coach thought the quarterback failed to protect himself.

That play, unsurprisingly, was the scramble

where Beathard had the wind (and perhaps something else) knocked out of him. Only one out of the dozen-or-so hits from Sunday was the quarterback being reckless? That doesn’t bode well for Beathard’s ribs going forward.

Beathard, by the way, said Wednesday that he’s still feeling the hits from Los Angeles, but he estimates he’ll be back to full health by Sunday. He has a pretty good read on stuff like that, what with all of his experience.

I’m not saying that Beathard should totally change his game: his ability to take a beating and keep getting back up is his most endearing trait as a quarterback. That’s why the Niners’ locker room is so firmly behind him and why he’s become a fan favorite.

He might not be the

biggest or strongest or thickest quarterback, but he might be the toughest — that’s something he shouldn’t try to suppress.

Add that to his comfortability in year two of Kyle Shanahan’s offense and a pretty strong arm, and you have the makings of a quarterback who will stick around in this league for a long time.

But that only comes through if he can stay on the field. The Niners need Beathard to play with a near reckless abandon to win and salvage something from this season, but they don’t stand a chance if he’s injured.

It’s a painful paradox that the 49ers will have to contend with week-in, week-out until the attrition reaches No. 3.

And no one — including Beathard himself — can tell you how it will play out.