Have the 49ers, after years of searching, finally found their quarterback?
Jimmy Garoppolo looked like he had that “it” factor. He was extremely accurate and his pocket presence was nearly flawless in leading the 49ers to 15-14 win in Chicago. He did take a bad sack in the first half, when he failed to elude Lamarr Houston for an 11-yard loss. But other that, Garoppolo, bought time in the pocket and took what the Bears’ defense, particularly to wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, gave them.
With the Bears retreating against the speedster, Garoppolo took advantage for short completions ahead of the Chicago defense.
Garoppolo proved he could also take a hit. Twice, he hung in the pocket and delivered a completion over the middle. Once to Louis Murphy and another to wide receiver Trent Taylor for 16- and 14-yard gains respectively. The 49ers kept moving their offense crisply under Garoppolo, but they bogged down in the red zone.
In their first four trips in scoring territory, the 49ers settled for four Robbie Gould field goals, who is a popular former Bear.
Garoppolo was a victim of bad luck to start the game. His first pass was a wobbling effort that sailed over his intended target. He then threw seven straight accurate passes but was only 4-for-8 for 43 yards and an interception in the first quarter.
One pass was dropped, another was defended and the third was a accurate pass over the middle for what looked like a 15-yard gain, but wide receiver Louis Murphy had the ball stolen from him for a pick by cornerback Kyle Fuller.
Unfortunately, the pick goes on Garoppolo’s record instead of Murphy’s.
The 49ers continued to short-circuit against the Bears. Their first drive could have ended in a touchdown, but running back Carlos Hyde fumbled a pitch, right tackle Trent Brown was inaccurately called for a hold, and on third down in the red zone, the 49ers were called for two penalties – offensive pass interference and illegal man downfield.
In other words, the 49ers didn’t help Garoppolo. For example, just before the half, the 49ers were inside the 10 and then moved right out when tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Marquise Goodwin had back-to-back false start penalties.
Garoppolo almost made it work anyway. On third-and-11 from the 17, Garoppolo faded to his right alla Joe Montana on the “The Play.” He fired a high pass to Kittle but he, unlike Dwight Clark, couldn’t keep his feet in bounds. He made a great leaping catch however.
The 49ers went into the halftime locker room trailing 14-9, getting three field goals, in three trips inside the Bears’ red zone. They also dominated the half offensively mainly because of Garoppolo. The Bears ran only 16 offensive plays in the half, and the 49ers nearly tripled their offensive output 214 to 74. Garoppolo passed for 172 first-half yards and his his counterpart, rookie Mitchell Trubisky accounted for 45 passing yards.