Moment wasted: Garoppolo falters in fourthquarter shot at greatness
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — On Sunday, 31 years after Joe Montana led the 49ers to a Super Bowl win on a 92yard touchdown drive that began with 3:10 left, Jimmy Garoppolo was in a similar situation in the same stadium.
With the 49ers trailing by four points, the 49ers quarterback jogged onto the field with his team 85 yards away from the end zone and 2:39 remaining.
Garoppolo didn’t come close to matching Montana in the 49ers’ 3120 loss to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium.
More disconcerting than his inability to channel a legend, however, was this: His failure came during a fourth quarter in which he didn’t even resemble an average QB.
Garoppolo completed 3 of 11 passes for 36 yards with one interception in the final 15 minutes, which is just as bad as it sounds. His 2.8 passer rating is the secondlowest in the fourth quarter of a postseason loss since 2000, according to the Associated Press.
There are a host of reasons the 49ers squandered a 10point lead in the final quarter, but one of the biggest reasons is obvious: Garoppolo. After completing 17 of 20 passes in the first three quarters, Garoppolo went from excellent to awful down the stretch while his counterpart, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, did roughly the opposite.
The Chiefs had touchdown drives of 83, 65 and 42 yards on their final three possessions before gameending kneel downs.
“He put that game on his back,” Chiefs left tackle Eric Fisher said of game MVP Mahomes, “and he found a way to get it done.”
The 49ers’ final four drives featured two punts, a turnover on downs and an interception.
“I think there were some good things,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said when asked to assess Garoppolo’s performance. “… I thought he played all right.”
Garoppolo’s miss that will be remembered came with the 49ers trailing 2420 with 1:40 left and facing 3rdand10 at Kansas City’s 49. He had an opportunity to answer Mahomes and join Montana in Super Bowl lore, but his deep pass to wideout Emmanuel Sanders — who had slipped behind the secondary for a wouldbe touchdown — was overthrown.
“Emmanuel did a good job of just getting over the safeties,” Shanahan said. “… It looked like it just missed him.”
Said Garoppolo when asked about the throw: “We missed some shots tonight. Just some plays that we normally make. So it’s a tough one.”
Offered Sanders when asked how close he was to catching the pass: “How close do you think I was? That’s a dumb question.”
Garoppolo entered Sunday’s game amid questions about Shanahan’s belief in him after he threw just 27 passes in two playoff games. Those questions seemed silly given the 49ers won both by 17 points and averaged 235.5 rushing yards and 5.3 yards a carry.
However, Shanahan’s muchdiscussed cautious approach just before halftime Sunday didn’t suggest he had great confidence that Garoppolo could drive the offense down the field for points in a 1010 game.
The 49ers, who received the secondhalf kickoff, had a chance to score on backtoback possessions against a team known for scoring in bunches.
But Shanahan eschewed taking a timeout when the Chiefs were stopped at their 49yard line on fourth down with about 1:40 left in the second quarter. As a result, the 49ers took over at their 20yard line with three timeouts and 59 seconds left after Kansas City punted.
After a firstdown run, the 49ers didn’t take their second snap until 27 seconds were left.
Fans weren’t the only ones who appeared to be perplexed by the decision: Fox cameras caught general manager John Lynch gesturing for the 49ers to take a timeout after the Chiefs were stopped on fourth down.
Shanahan said he was concerned about the Chiefs getting the ball back if the 49ers couldn’t pick up a first down.
“The last thing we were going to do was allow them to get the ball with three timeouts,” Shanahan said. “Especially with their quarterback and offensive speed.”
It sounds as if Shanahan had more regard for Mahomes than his own quarterback, which, given Mahomes’ brilliance, isn’t exactly a knock on Garoppolo.
However, two quarters later, Garoppolo had a chance to top Mahomes on the game’s grandest stage and answer questions that linger after his mostly impressive first full season as a starter.
Perhaps there’s no shame that he didn’t look like Joe Montana.
But then again, he didn’t even resemble Jimmy Garoppolo.