Time to find out what Jimmy G can do
CHICAGO — The preliminaries are over. The introductions have been made. We even had a sneak peek last Sunday to whet the appetite.
But now, on the cold shore of Lake Michigan, not far from where Jimmy Garoppolo grew up, the 49ers’ new quarterback has to show us what he’s got.
It’s a fairly good situation, if you’re Garoppolo. There will be friends and family on hand to watch him take on a woeful 3-8 Bears squad that does not invoke the spirit of Butkus or Singletary or Urlacher.
Then again, Garoppolo’s 49er teammates don’t invoke much more than a groan these days. At 1-10, this is a glorified exhibition squad, stacked with very young players all hoping to impress head coach Kyle Shanahan and earn an invite to training camp next season.
So Jimmy G will make the best of it
and the Faithful will have a compelling reason to tune in for the first time in months. What should they expect to see? A pretty good quarterback, for one.
Garoppolo looked sharp in practice during the week, taking reps with the first team for the first time. Shanahan scaled back his complicated playbook to accommodate his quarterback of the future, who arrived in a trade with New England one month ago.
“This game plan is for Jimmy and he’ll work at it all week, and whatever he doesn’t feel comfortable with and he doesn’t get down in these three practices, then we’ll take it out and whatever we’re going with Sunday, he’ll know 100 percent of it,” Shanahan said earlier in the week.
Garoppolo, 26, also looked sharp in limited service over the previous three seasons, which made him a top target for teams looking for their next great quarterback. Garoppolo oozed potential as an understudy, but we’ve seen this movie before. Sometimes it works out (Aaron Rodgers) and sometimes it doesn’t (Matt Cassel).
We do know that Garoppolo has a 110.1 career rating and has been interception-free in his first 96 passes. But that was with a talented Patriots offensive line, for all but two of those throws. The group protecting him this Sunday in Chicago will be anything but. The 49ers hope giant right tackle Trent Brown’s shoulder will allow him to play Sunday. So does the quarterback.
Even with Brown in there, rookie quarterback C.J. Beathard took an absolute beating this season, scrambling for his life over the past five games as the Niners’ starter. But Garoppolo has more talent than his first-year counterpart, which should help him survive and maybe even thrive.
“I think this week (of practice) will really help,” said Garoppolo after getting the starting nod. “Getting the live reps with (first team) against the scout team defense and even the competition periods. Getting that timing down with those guys is a crucial thing between quarterback and really any skill player — tight ends, receivers, running backs, all those guys. They all have specific things that they do well. We’re trying to showcase those.”
Garoppolo’s talents lie in his field vision and his quick release. When Shanahan spoke about Garoppolo’s ability to make adjustments on the fly, you could see the sparkle in the QB guru’s eye.
“When anybody watches him throw, he obviously can speed it up quicker,” said Shanahan. “... When you’re late on something, when you don’t anticipate something, you still can catch up and get it there.
“You watch quarterbacks ... (and) the big-arm guys don’t always throw with anticipation because their whole life they haven’t needed to. They wait until they see it open and then they rifle it in there. Then you have some guys who don’t have that big-time arm and they have to anticipate. They’ve got to let it go early, and they hit the guy in stride right in the window. Jimmy has the ability, with his quick release, that he doesn’t always have to anticipate.”
That’s a bit tough to decipher, but it sounds like Shanahan is saying that Garoppolo can wait a bit longer for things to unfold and still deliver the goods. He’s also known for having an above-average arm, so it all looks good ... on paper and in practice.
Now, we’ll see what it looks like in a real game. My prediction? We’ll see flashes of brilliance mixed with some rusty play. And Garoppolo is going to have a dirty uniform by mid-afternoon.
Regardless of the outcome, don’t despair — these things take time to develop. In Joe Montana’s first start with the 49ers (Week 14 in 1979), he completed 5 of 12 passes for a grand total of 36 yards before being yanked in a 13-10 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Of course, no one will be comparing Garoppolo to Montana anytime soon. But the expectations are high for this particular debut.
As Bears head coach John Fox put it when asked whether Garoppolo was going to be as good as advertised: “He was exposed to a lot of good things there in New England . ... Sounds like he’s adapted to Kyle’s system, and what they’re doing offensively. Everything I’ve seen, I’ve been impressed with.”
Now it’s time to impress the rest of us.