The 49ers produced arguably their best performance of the 2022 season on Monday as they routed the Arizona Cardinals 38-10 in Mexico City, yet quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo knows they can be even better.
San Francisco was dominant on both sides of the ball at Estadio Azteca, Garoppolo leading a superb offensive effort with four touchdown passes as Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel each went over 100 yards from scrimmage and George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk both scored twice.
The 49ers leaned on the passing game in the first half and then dictated matters with the run in the second, showing balance on offense as the San Francisco defense pitched its third successive second-half shutout and intercepted Colt McCoy twice.
This is a team that looks to be rounding into form at exactly the right time, but Garoppolo still sees plenty of room for improvement.
“The past couple weeks we’ve been putting together some good games,” Garoppolo said. “Today was probably our best full game that we’ve put together. But we’ve got a long way to go. There’s some yards we left out there, even some points that we left out there. It’s a nice thing that guys are still hungry.”
It’s tough to pick too many holes in the 49ers’ performance. They were perfect in the red zone, pass protected well and took away any hope for the Cardinals in the second half.
The 49ers were again impressive on third down, converting six of 11, yet the argument can be made that they could have put the game out of reach earlier had they been more precise on third down in the first half.
That is an extremely high standard to which to hold the 49ers, but Garoppolo knows that is the level they may need to play at if the Niners are to have a chance of lifting the Lombardi Trophy come the end of the season.
San Francisco has won games when not firing on all cylinders, as it did in Week 10 against the Chargers, and has also shown it can decimate opponents, as the Rams and the Cardinals have both found out this season.
That ability to win in different ways could be crucial down the stretch and in the postseason, and Garopppolo’s feeling the Niners are doing so without coming close to their ceiling is an extremely exciting assessment of a team that unquestionably has the talent to go all the way.
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