Jimmy Garoppolo’s poor fourth-quarter performance in Super Bowl 54 sparked questions about his viability as the 49ers’ franchise quarterback moving forward. Head coach Kyle Shanahan on Thursday skewered rumors of a split with Garoppolo during his post-season press conference.
Shanahan said the loss doesn’t squarely fall on Garoppolo’s shoulders and pointed out that he likely would’ve been the game’s MVP had the team not fallen apart at the end. Then Shanahan explained why he’s optimistic about his quarterback moving forward.
“I think Jimmy is one of the main reasons we got to the Super Bowl,” Shanahan said. “I think he overcame a lot. This was his first year in his career going through an entire NFL season. He still doesn’t have as many starts and stuff as (Browns QB) Baker Mayfield. I think he had a hell of a first year truly playing the position, especially coming off an ACL where you have to fight through that a ton as a quarterback, where your rhythm and everything is not there at the beginning of the year. For him to be like that and to not let the pressure get to him, and to improve as the year went, I think says a ton about Jimmy. I can’t tell you how much I loved coaching the guy as a player and as a person this year.”
Garoppolo tore his ACL in Week 3 of the 2018 season, but returned to start all 16 games in 2019. After a slow start, his productivity picked up over the back half of the season, and his comfort in the offense was apparent en route to guiding San Francisco to a 13-3 record and their first playoff trip since 2013.
After throwing just 27 passes in two playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl, questions started piling up about whether Shanahan trusted his quarterback. The importance of those two games certainly magnify Garoppolo’s relative absence in the offense and force fans to search for answers.
However, Garoppolo was among the best quarterbacks in the league statistically during the regular season. His 3,978 yards were the fourth-most ever by a 49ers quarterback. He also finished sixth in touchdown passes and third in yards-per-attempt among all quarterbacks in 2019.
The notion that San Francisco was going to move on from Garoppolo because of a half quarter of football was always ludicrous, but the strong vote of confidence from Shanahan moving into the offseason is a further indicator that he’ll be under center for San Francisco as they try and get back to the Super Bowl in 2020.