Playing well, but a lame duck
“that he was this special.”
Now, four years later and two days before Christmas, Garoppolo could be making one of his last starts with the 49ers (8-6) on Thursday night when they visit the AFC South-leading Titans (9-5).
Since he last faced Tennessee, Garoppolo has dealt with a torn ACL, a hellish final quarter in Super Bowl LIV, a severe high ankle sprain and the drafting of his eventual replacement, Trey Lance, with the No. 3 pick in April.
But he’ll arrive at Nissan Stadium as a battle-scarred QB with an approval rating that might be at its highest since moments before he overthrew Emmanuel Sanders in Miami Gardens in the Super Bowl.
No, we aren’t experiencing Garoppolo-mania 2.0. Not hardly. But the grousing about Garoppolo, still a presumptive lame duck, has turned to appreciation.
“The biggest thing that’s been really cool to watch is (Garoppolo) knows that we drafted a quarterback high,” offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel said. “He hears the murmurs, but he doesn’t let any of it bother him. He tries to be his best self.”
It’s possible Garoppolo, 30, has never played better. Since Week 8, he ranks second in the
NFL in passer rating (107.4), third in completion percentage (69) and first in yards per attempt (9), nearly a full yard better than the runner-up, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers (8.1).
“He’s running our system exactly how we want,” general manager John Lynch said Tuesday on KNBR. “… We made a tough decision to go out and get
Trey Lance, and he’s responded like great competitors do. It’s brought out the best in him.”
The 49ers were 2-4 before Garoppolo began his eightgame streak in which he has thrown 12 touchdown passes and four interceptions. They are 6-2 in those games.
“We’re going to go as far as Jimmy takes us,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said.
Against Tennessee’s secondranked run defense, the 49ers, who won’t have leading rusher Elijah Mitchell (knee), will likely need Garoppolo’s right arm to get them tantalizingly close to a playoff berth. They have an 81% chance of reaching the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight.com. That will soar to 94% with a win over the Titans. Their chances will drop to 69% with a loss.
A win doesn’t figure to come easily. The 49ers will travel across two time zones to play on three days’ rest in December for the first time in franchise history. And the Titans aren’t the best opponent for sore bodies.
Tennessee is allowing 86.9 rushing yards per game and has allowed more than 94 yards in just three of its 14 games. The Titans won’t have Derrick Henry, the two-time NFL rushing champion who has missed their past six games with a broken foot. However, they have maintained their commitment to the running game, and continue to have success, without him.
The Titans, fifth in the NFL in rushing (142.3 yards), have averaged 135.2 yards in their past six games.
Inside linebacker Fred Warner said head coach Kyle Shanahan spent part of a team meeting showing clips that showcased the Titans’ physicality on offense, defense and special teams. Shanahan said they have adopted the mentality of head coach Mike Vrabel, 46, a linebacker who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots during his 14-year career.
“That’s who their coach was as a player and who he is now,” Warner said. “It flows through the entire organization. So it’s just going to be one of those games where you’ve got to strap up your chinstrap tight and make sure your pads are right, because you’re going to have to bring it.”
Vrabel wasn’t the Titans’ head coach when Garoppolo led the 49ers to the upset victory in 2017. Instead, he was the Texans’ defensive coordinator, and Garoppolo had thrown for 334 yards in a win over Houston a week earlier.
Garoppolo noted that Tuesday when recalling his memories of the last time he played Tennessee.
“The two-minute drive was pretty sweet,” Garoppolo said. “That obviously holds a close place to my heart. … That was a very exciting game.”
And a very exciting time. The start of a craze inspired by a quarterback who gave a moribund franchise a reason to believe.