Jimmy Garoppolo’s return to the field in Week 5 didn’t go as planned. After missing two games with a high ankle sprain, Garoppolo looked inaccurate and out of sync during his two quarters of play while tossing his first two interceptions of the season on consecutive series.
Bouts of inaccuracy aren’t uncommon for Garoppolo, but Sunday’s showing raised questions about whether he was fully recovered from his sprained ankle.
He told reporters after the game that the ankle did affect him, but he wouldn’t blame the entirety of his poor outing on the ailment. He said he hasn’t thought about whether he’ll play next week, and instead will take the injury day-by-day.
#49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo on whether his ankle will put his status in doubt moving forward: "I really haven’t thought that far ahead," Garoppolo said. "I guess we’ll just take it day by day with the ankle and see how it goes."
— Nick Wagoner (@nwagoner) October 12, 2020
It’s clear the 49ers aren’t going to be a playoff contender unless Garoppolo is under center, but not the version of Garoppolo they got Sunday.
If he can’t go, it’ll either be Nick Mullens or CJ Beathard starting against the Rams. Beathard took over the QB2 job heading into the Dolphins game and played the entire second half. Either way, if it’s not a healthy Garoppolo, that’s bad news for San Francisco as they try and avoid falling even further below the .500 mark.