LOOSEN THE REINS
For better or worse, it’s time for Shanahan to unleash Garoppolo
In both of the 49ers’ NFC playoff games last year, Kyle Shanahan took the ball out of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s hands.
It worked.
On Sunday, in the 49ers’ season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, Shanahan broke out the NFC playoffs playbook. It didn’t work this time around. San Francisco lost 24-20.
In both cases, the runfirst, -second, and -third tactic came under the guise that the 49ers’ ground game was doing well. But the subtext remains easy to read: Shanahan didn’t trust Garoppolo then and he didn’t seem to trust him Sunday.
Of course, it’s easy to see why Shanahan could have trepidation. Garoppolo played poorly in both of those playoff games and in Sunday’s season opener.
The issue is that two of those three defenses weren’t particularly impressive, and the strategy of protecting the quarterback — or rather protecting the team from its quarterback — isn’t viable if the 49ers want to win the Super Bowl this year.
The Niners are going to take steps back from their 13-3, NFC championship campaign last year. Regression is inevitable, particularly on defense — an area of
the game where it is notoriously difficult to sustain elite-level play year over year. If the Niners want to win their division and their conference again, they cannot have regression at the quarterback position.
And that regression cannot be in any way selfinflicted by a negative game plan.
Don’t get me wrong, Garoppolo deserves plenty of blame for Sunday’s loss. It looked like he was lost after the first quarter Sunday. His pocket presence was poor, his third-down play (usually a strength) was abysmal, and of his 33 pass attempts against the Cardinals, he only completed three that traveled more than 10 yards past the line of scrimmage.
Even long throws down the sideline were problematic. His far-too-high screen pass to George Kittle put the Niners’ star tight end in a compromised position that nearly led to his knee exploding on a low tackle from Buddha Baker.
Garoppolo looked like the same quarterback we saw in Week 1 of the 2019 season — a dud performance against the Buccaneers. Or worse yet, the quarterback from his three-game 2018 season, where the game looked to be too fast for him.
Maybe it slows down in
the weeks to come, like it did last year.
But if “Bad Jimmy” shows up again down the line — and it absolutely will — Shanahan can’t be so fast to take the ball out of his hands, save for literal 2-minute drills. Despite conceding the passing game in the late second and entire third quarter, the 49ers had a chance to win Sunday’s game. Other teams won’t be as gracious.
Shanahan said Garoppolo has “got to play better.”
But while Garoppolo was the one missing throws, it’s hard to put all of Sunday’s loss on him. How would you expect to perform if your boss showed little faith in you to execute but then expected you to come through in the clutch?
This is a good time to note that despite his being a prime candidate for an extension — one that would have freed up enough cap space to possibly keep Emmanuel Sanders, DeForest Bucker, or both in the Bay — the Niners didn’t touch Garoppolo’s contract this past offseason. Instead, they openly flirted with 43-year-old Tom Brady before deciding that Garoppolo was “their guy.” At least for this season.
With the 49ers’ allaround talent, this season is one where the Super Bowl is absolutely in reach, and Garoppolo — for all of his flaws — has won 23 of the 30 games
he’s started in his career. He might not be an elite player, but he’s a good quarterback. And he’s the only winning quarterback the 49ers have.
So let’s see what he has — let him rip it. Worstcase scenario, it’ll make the team’s decision next offseason much easier.
If Shanahan has to abandon his beloved 21 personnel to give Garoppolo more comfort by spreading out the offense, so be it. He’s an offensive genius, he should be able to handle a bit of adaptation.
The addition of Mohamed Sanu can help. But I don’t know what the exact answer is. I only know Sunday’s game plan isn’t viable going forward. There’s no universe where the 49ers’ play-to-notlose offense from Week 1 leads them to a Super Bowl win.
Right or wrong, Shanahan is going to have to trust Garoppolo to carry this team in games like Sunday’s. The Niners will not be able to seriously contend by hiding their quarterback, dinking and dunking until the absolute last moment possible.
Of course, Garoppolo is going to have to play eons better than he played Sunday, too.
What can change ahead of Sunday’s game in New Jersey must be changed.
Because the overarching truth is this: This Niners team will go as far as their quarterback will take them.