Legacy at stake for Garoppolo
ARLINGTON — Joe Montana had The Catch. Steve Young had The Catch II. And Alex Smith had Vernon Post.
Jimmy Garoppolo? His indelible postseason throw is The Overthrow, his airmailed pass to Emmanuel Sanders in Super Bowl LIV.
The 49ers quarterback’s fourth-quarter failures in that crushing to loss to Kansas City are a reason he doesn’t have the full embrace of the fan base or the franchise, which drafted his replacement, Trey Lance, to make 2021 Garoppolo’s lame-duck season.
However, there is still time — and no better stage — for the polarizing veteran QB to transform his mixed legacy.
“Him playing well here,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said, “can do a lot of good things for him.”
Garoppolo, 30, will enter what likely will be the final chapter of his five-season 49ers tenure with Sunday’s wild-card game in Dallas. And a clutch playoff performance could inspire significant edits to his career bio.
His résumé currently includes an assortment of injuries, a 33-15 record as a starter (including the postseason) and a caretaker role in the 2019 run to the Super Bowl: He threw a combined 27 passes in wins over the Vikings and Packers before posting a 2.8 passer rating in the final 15 minutes of the Super Bowl, the second-lowest in the fourth quarter of a postseason loss since 2000.
That won’t be forgotten, but it could be pushed to the second paragraph when the
Garoppolo era is reviewed.
For those who question how much a single, earlierround postseason victory can burnish a legacy, consider the case of Smith. He accounted for two go-ahead touchdowns in the final three minutes of a 36-32 divisional-round victory over the Saints in January 2012, his lone playoff win with the 49ers. But it came to symbolize the resilience Smith displayed throughout his adversity-stuffed nine-season tenure.
Garoppolo, who shares Smith’s grit and grace, will have to overcome plenty to have a defining playoff moment Sunday: The 49ers will be road underdogs, and he will be making his second straight start with a torn ligament and fracture in his right thumb.
But there is plenty of recent evidence to suggest the pressure-packed playoff
stage won’t be too big for Garoppolo.
In last Sunday’s seasonsaving 27-24 overtime win over the Rams, Garoppolo threw two ghastly interceptions, but he was nearly flawless in the clutch: He drove the 49ers 88 yards in 61 seconds to tie the game with a touchdown pass with 26 seconds remaining, and he followed by directing the go-ahead march downfield in OT.
With his thumb numbed by a pregame painkilling shot, Garoppolo completed 8-of-10 passes for 133 yards and had a 152.1 rating on those drives.
“As a quarterback, those are the moments — the drives — that you live for,” Garoppolo said. “You want to have the ball at the end of the game.”
Evidently. Less than a month earlier, Garoppolo also led a game-tying drive, on the road, in the final seconds of regulation before he threw a game-winning touchdown pass in a 26-23 overtime win over the Bengals.
In Chicago, in Week 8, he began the 49ers’ climb from their 2-4 start by throwing for 209 yards, rushing for two scores and tossing a 2point conversion in the final 30-plus minutes of a 33-22 comeback win.
With the 49ers fighting for a playoff berth, Garoppolo has been at his best late in their late-season games. Since Week 12 — a span of six starts — he has completed 70.3 percent of his passes and posted a 111.4 passer rating in the fourth quarter and overtime.
That includes his between-two-defenders, 45yard completion to wideout Deebo Samuel that set up the game-tying score against the Rams and stunned Juszczyk.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, look at Jim stepping up to plate when his back’s against the wall — what could be his last pass as a Niner and he freakin’ delivers,” Juszczyk said. “So I’m proud to see what he’s been doing.”
Garoppolo has been beloved in the locker room, but he hasn’t experienced such universal affection from the fan base in recent seasons. But there remains time to dramatically alter his 49ers legacy as he enters what likely will be his final days on the job.
To do so he might need to channel his predecessors, those whose passes are part of franchise lore, and deliver a throw that leads to a win and, finally, a full and forever embrace.