Wide receiver Trent Taylor spent Sunday morning getting sick. Coach Kyle Shanahan said the rookie was throwing up repeatedly before the 49ers’ 15-14 win in Chicago. Before that, Taylor was making people wonder if he would ever climb over the rookie wall.
The crafty slot receiver and courageous punt returner fumbled twice, broke his ribs and looked like he couldn’t beat NFL coverage once he hit mid-season.
All that changed in Chicago. Taylor caught all six passes from new quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo for 92 yards, including a 33-yarder on the game’s final drive.
“The guy has a heart of a champion,” 49ers tackle Joe Staley said on the KNBR post-game show.
Taylor’s catch-and-run on a third-and-9 from 49ers’ 49-yard line got the team in position to win the game. Once San Francisco was in field-goal range for Robbie Gould, the team slowed the game down. But none of that would have happened if not for Taylor.
The only receiver to have a better day was Marquise Goodwin, who caught all eight passes thrown his way for 99 yards. The eight catches was a career high, and put Goodwin in the category of possession receiver, at least for a day.
“He’s an amazingly tough football player,” Staley remarked. “He stepped up and did a really good job for us.”
Goodwin is a former Olympic long jumper and maybe the fastest receiver in the league. But in Chicago he shed the label of a track athlete playing football. Goodwin proved he’s a football player who once ran a little track.
Both Taylor and Goodwin had their skills animated by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo who completed over 70 percent of his passes on the day. The 49ers came into the game ranked 31st in completion percentage at 56.6 percent.