The disrespect of Jimmy Garoppolo

If you’ve kept up with the media frenzy that typically surrounds the build up to the Super Bowl, then you might not even know that the other team the Kansas City Chiefs are playing, is the San Francisco 49ers.

And that there are actually two quarterbacks playing in this game, not just Patrick Mahomes.

That other quarterback, is actually a pretty good one too, who by all accounts, has absolutely nothing to do with the 49ers success right now.  Forget his 21-5 record as the starting quarterback in San Francisco, forget his amazing 5-0 start on a team that was 1-10 when he took over.  Forget that in his first full season, as a starting quarterback, the 49ers finished 13-3, with wins over the Saints, Ravens, Packers, and Seahawks, all teams who made the playoffs in 2019.  Forget that he led the league this year in 4th quarter come from behind wins.  Forget his epic shootout with the Saints in the dome, tossing four touchdown passes, bringing the 49ers back from 13 points down, and converting a 4th down on the final drive to win the game.

Forget that Jimmy Garoppolo is just one season removed from a torn a ACL.

Nope, don’t recall or remember any of that stuff.  What the media does remember however, is Garoppolo’s five consecutive interceptions in practice earlier this NFL season.  They recall his first preseason game against Denver, where Garoppolo completed just one of six passes for zero yards and an interception, good enough for an exact QB rating of 0.00.  They recall the first game against Seattle where Garoppolo was nearly intercepted multiple times on the final drive of regulation, and had multiple turnovers during the game, only to lose in overtime.

Despite the wins, the division title, and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, they all take a back seat to his legendary eight pass attempts in the NFC Championship game against Green Bay.  “I could have been the quarterback, and we still would have won the game”.  That’s the sentiment from a lot of the morning sport talk show hosts all week long, it’s amazing.  

So the bottom line is this, the 49ers aren’t in the Super Bowl because of Jimmy Garoppolo, they are there in spite of Jimmy Garoppolo.

If you believe what the talking heads are saying on television that is…

The disrespect of Jimmy Garoppolo is really embarrassing.  And this has been a year long thing.  When they beat the Saints, the story was Drew Brees.  When they beat the Packers in the regular season, the story was Aaron Rodgers.  When they finally beat Seattle in Seattle for the first time since 2011, the story, and rightfully so, was the goal line stop.  When they beat the Vikings and Saints, it was the dominating defense and the running game of the 49ers.

I’ve almost gotten the sense, that the media doesn’t want Jimmy Garoppolo to really succeed.  He’s boring.  He’s not Patrick Mahomes, or Lamar Jackson, or Russell Wilson, or Baker Mayfield, or Drew Brees, or Aaron Rodgers.  He doesn’t have a cannon.  He doesn’t have swag, he doesn’t run like the wind, he doesn’t make highlight reel plays, and he doesn’t star in commercials.  He’s not a fantasy football star and he’s not the reason the 49ers are playing in the Super Bowl next Sunday.

But here are the facts- before Jimmy Garoppolo became a Niner, there was little hope in San Francisco.  Victories were few and far between, fans had little to get excited about and a Super Bowl appearance was something deep in the rear view mirror.  Garoppolo isn’t the sole reason for the 49ers success, but there’s no doubt, just as Mahomes has impacted the Chiefs and helped turned them into contenders, so has Garoppolo with the 49ers.

Stop with the disrespect of Jimmy Garoppolo- enough is enough!