No play typified Jimmy Garoppolo’s winning play against the Bears than his third-quarter strike to Louis Murphy. The play went for 16 yards and somehow the ball found it’s way to Murphy despite triple coverage.
It was one of those plays where a coach on the sidelines, says, “No, no, no. Yes!”
Garoppolo never saw the pass. He was decked after unleashing it. But Garoppolo didn’t seem to worry he would complete the ball despite the fact the floating pass seemed to go through a “sea of hands” to borrow a phrase from Raiders’ history.
Asked after the game, Garoppolo unveiled the secret of how he’s become so successful so early with the 49ers. In a word, its trust.
“I knew his route, I knew what his depth was, the (middle) linebacker had no vision on me, so I knew he wasn’t going to make the play,” Garoppolo said. “I just had to keep it away from the safety and the linebacker coming over.”
Heck easy. Playing quarterback in the NFL, no sweat. At least that’s the way it seems with Garoppolo. Nevertheless the key to his success in Chicago may have been his trust in his receivers and offensive line.
Garoppolo, who completed 26 of 37 passes for 293 yards in the 15-14 win, has an ease with which he carries himself and his trust of his teammates seems so natural.
It was something previous quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and C.J. Beathard didn’t have. Mainly, they probably didn’t trust themselves.
Garoppolo never doubted that a player who just came to the 49ers a couple of weeks ago (Murphy) was going to reach the proper depth and be at the right spot. Not only did Garoppolo know he was going to be there, Garoppolo said he tried to keep the ball low so only Murphy to catch it.
Remarkable.
“Murph made a tremendous catch I heard,” Garoppolo said with his characteristic half-smile.
Soon, this team is going to love him, if they don’t already. He gets rid of the ball quickly and his flawless pocket presence on Sunday kept him in the pocket when there was no pass rush, and moved him to the edges when he felt pressure to buy more time when needed.
That’s just going to make the offensive line want to throw rose pedals at his feet.
“That’s the trust part you have with teammates,” Garoppolo said. “I’m starting to learn that with certain guys. It keeps growing with everybody. … You trusting the O-line, the O-line trusting you and you trusting the receivers.”
The 49ers tried to mess it up for Garoppolo, who grew up just 30 miles outside of Chicago. They committed penalties, they doomed drives. Murphy himself killed a drive when a perfect pass Garoppolo threw him over the middle he failed to secure. While Murphy was headed to the Soldier Field grass, cornerback Kyle Fuller stole the ball from him for an interception.
But Garoppolo never seemed to lose confidence or trust. At halftime, he said the offense talked about “shoring” things up and that’s exactly what happened. The 49ers committed fewer penalties, and with 5:27 left in the game, Garoppolo did what came natural; he led his team on a 14-play, 86-yard drive to place Robbie Gould in line for a game-winning 24-yard field goal with eight seconds left.
The defense will also love Garoppolo. With the 49ers newest quarterback continually conducting long drives, the 49ers hogged game time, consuming 38:43 seconds of the 60-minute clock. It allowed the defense to stay fresh throughout the game.
In the end the defense held the Bears to one touchdown, with the other score coming on a Tarik Cohen 61-yard punt return. The defense spectated from most of the game, and were ready to vent their fury on the Bears offense when they were in the game.
Garoppolo seemed to coolly control it all from behind center, even though he knows a fraction of the offense.
Just imagine when he knows more, and when he gains more trust. If that’s the case, the future, just like Garoppolo, seems to be too good to be true.