One-sided rivalry:
49ers lose ninth straight to Seahawks; Garoppolo makes late-game debut.
With two seconds left in the game Sunday, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo took the snap, rolled to his left, scanned the field and floated a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Louis Murphy with no time on the clock.
OK, so it really wasn’t too dramatic: It was a meaningless, garbage-time score in the 49ers’ 24-13 loss to the Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium. However, in the 49ers’ forgettable 1-10 season, the presumptive franchise quarterback’s first touchdown pass with the team might be one of the few moments that endures.
After the game played out predictably for 59 minutes, with the Seahawks cruising to their ninth straight win over the 49ers, it ended unexpectedly.
After rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard was sidelined with a leg injury with 67 seconds left, Garoppolo, who had been mothballed since he was acquired Oct. 30, entered and threw the first touchdown pass by a 49ers quarterback against the Seahawks since Colin Kaepernick in the 2016 season finale.
His three plays: a 4-yard run, an 8-yard completion and the scoring toss to Murphy.
It’s a ridiculously small sample size, but an auspicious start. And Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett is just happy Tom Brady’s longtime understudy didn’t actually start the game.
“I’m glad they didn’t put him in earlier,” Bennett said. “I think they’re protecting their investment.”
Head coach Kyle Shanahan has said he was delaying Garoppolo’s debut because he wanted him to digest more of his complex playbook. And his inexperience in the system quickly became clear: Garoppolo almost didn’t get his first snap off before the play clock expired.
“It takes a little bit longer,” Shanahan said. “It’s new for him. He did a good job. I thought I was going to have to call a timeout, but I didn’t have one. So I just watched and hoped.”
Garoppolo did follow some instructions expertly. When asked if Shanahan told him not to run and risk injury, he smiled: “Nah. He said, ‘Go get a touchdown.’ ”
Garoppolo entered when Beathard was hit in the left knee by Bennett, who was offsides on the play that resulted in an incompletion. Beathard, who walked in the locker room with a slight limp, said he had pain in his knee and hip and will have an MRI exam Monday. He said he didn’t think he had a torn ligament, and Shanahan expressed optimism that his injury wasn’t serious.
Not surprisingly, Shanahan said he didn’t know who would start Sunday in Chicago, which is about 30 miles from Garoppolo’s hometown of Arlington Heights, Ill.
“We’re going to watch the tape,” Shanahan said. “See how the guys feel. Work with them Monday and Tuesday, put a game plan together and see what it’s like for Wednesday.”
Before Beathard’s injury made Garoppolo the subject of intense interest, the Seahawks’ quarterback, Russell Wilson, was the story of the game.
After beating the 49ers 12-9 in Week 2 with a magic-act touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter, the dual-threat quarterback did his Houdini routine repeatedly Sunday. He threw for two touchdowns, rushed for another and was never sacked, avoiding the rush as if his jersey were slathered in leftover Thanksgiving gravy.
Wilson completed 20 of 34 passes for 228 yards after a game-opening interception to safety Eric Reid.
“I don’t think I’ve played a quarterback that’s been better at not getting sacked,” Reid said. “It’s frustrating when it’s third down, you have good coverage and he scrambles and he makes something out of nothing.”
Reid and left tackle Joe Staley are part of a club. They are the only players remaining who started when the 49ers’ last beat the Seahawks on Dec. 8, 2013, at Candlestick Park during the peak of what was then one of the NFL’s mostanticipated showdowns.
The 49ers have lost by at least 10 points in six games during their losing streak to Seattle.
“It sucks; it does,” Staley said. “Especially because that game was such a rivalry game for us a while ago. And right now, it’s nine in a row. It’s not much of a rivalry until we start winning again.”
A huge issue is that the 49ers have no answer for Seattle’s defense, which has limited them to fewer than 20 points in 13 of their past 14 meetings.
On Sunday, the 49ers had just 10 first downs and 194 yards before they began their last drive trailing 24-6 with 3:27 left.
Against a shorthanded defense missing three standouts — cornerback Richard Sherman, safety Kam Chancellor and defensive end Cliff Avril — Beathard completed 22 of 38 passes for 201 yards and an interception that led to a 16yard touchdown drive.
However, the Seahawks may have gotten the taste of a future challenge when Garoppolo made his three-play debut.
“You see automatically that spark he gave,” Bennett said. “You play behind Tom Brady you start picking up knowledge of the game … so I feel like he’s poised to be a great player in this league. Like I told him, I look forward to playing against him next season.”
“I feel like he’s poised to be a great player in this league.” Michael Bennett, Seahawks defensive end, on 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo