© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Damn.
Before you all start your howls about Mac Jones tomorrow night, I feel like Jimmy G needs at least a requiem.
We’ve been through too much together. We’ve seen the revival of a franchise. A return to the Super Bowl. An overthrow of Emmanuel Sanders.
What, too soon?
I feel like we should remember, at least for one last Jock Blog, that for one, brief shining moment… it felt great, baby.
We all knew, on March 26, when the 49ers made the trade to move to No. 3 in the draft, that Jimmy Garoppolo’s goose was cooked. It’s just that — to continue my fowl theme — those chickens came home to roost so crudely in this week’s Kyle Shanahan/John Lynch press conference.
There was the part where Lynch was asked how Jimmy is handling all this. Lynch’s eyes briefly went down.
“He’s being a pro,” Lynch said.
Oof. It was like asking about a divorce. “How’s your ex handling this?” Eyes down. “He/She is being a pro.”
And then, of course, in a 49ers line that will go down with Jim Harbaugh’s “Who’s got it better than us?” and Eddie DeBartolo Jr’s “He’s gone,” Shanahan was asked if he could guarantee that Jimmy G would be on the roster Sunday.
“I can’t guarantee that anyone in the world will be alive on Sunday,” Shanahan said, sending a mortal chill down everyone’s spine.
If Paulie Mac’s new hit show “Jimmy and Joey By the Bay”, the smash sitcom called “tragically hilarious” by the critics, is going to get canceled when Jimmy moves out one last time, we should at least have a final episode of greatest hits. Right?
Like, remember when Jimmy G trotted onto the Levi’s Stadium turf in the Nov. 26, 2017 drizzle in the final seconds of a loss to Seattle, rolled left, threw against his body and hit — wait for it — Lou Murphy for a pretty TD?
Or his next five starts to close 2017, beating the Bears in his hometown! Beating the Texans in Houston, and the mighty defenses of Tennessee and Jacksonville! A 5-0 finish to 2017 — and do you remember the stampede of panic to sign Garoppolo, the free agent?
That went well for Jim, and for us. He got $41 million guaranteed at his February, 2018 signing, and if he does indeed end his run with the 49ers in the next week, will have made about $86 million as a Niner, if my calculations are correct. Even given taxes, Jimmy can buy lots of blue jeans for his common-man look, and plenty of pricey real estate to build his post-football empire. The son of an electrician will not want.
The 2018 season did not go how we wanted. He lost the opener in Minnesota, tossing three passes to the guys in purple. The next week, he escaped in the home opener vs the Lions, getting a game-losing interception called back on a game-saving penalty. The next week, his ACL blew in Kansas City.
But we were patient. We understood he would be back in 2019. And boy, was he.
2019 was when Jimmy G Mania crested. You will get those feels every time you hear the tender strains of E-40 crooning those special four words: “Bang, Bang Niner Gang”.
The 24-20 comeback win over the Steelers in Week 3. The four-TD bonanza on Halloween, 2019, in Arizona, capping an 8-0 start.
It was then, right there, that we hit the Zenith of Jimmy G Mania.
He uttered three words to Erin Andrews, “Feels great, baby!” — and we swooned for the QB of the next decade.
Joe. Steve. Jimmy G.
Right?
To burnish the “Feels great, baby” vibe, he won at New Orleans, and at Seattle, throwing clutch, good balls along the way.
And then… we began the slow, downhill slide.
Just before the half of the NFC Divisional Playoff vs the Vikings at home, 49ers up, 14-7, Garoppolo threw a pass intended for Deebo Samuel. Eric Kendricks intercepted it. The Vikings kicked a field goal and it was 14-10, 49ers, at half.
It appeared to be the Smoking Gun in the downfall of Jimmy G.
He threw only six passes in the second half, eight passes in the NFC Championship win over Green Bay, and — although Kyle gave him the keys to the car in Super Bowl 54 and 31 pass attempts — critical misses in the blown 20-7 fourth quarter lead.
Super Bowl losses are tough, man. They hang in a building like a foul stench, as I was just saying to my good friends Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Jared Goff.
Especially when you follow up Super Bowl losses with a high ankle sprain that costs you 10 starts in 2020.
Kyle and John had seen enough. Though Jimmy G was 22-8 as a starter, he only started 25 of their last 48 regular season games. Next thing you know, Shanahan is telling people we may not be alive come the weekend.
Listen, we’re all big boys and girls. Garoppolo is handsomely compensated to take these literal and metaphorical body blows. We understand winning is the only thing that matters, and that Kyle had apparently seen enough. Brian Baldinger had a cut-up during the 2020 season of missed reads by Jimmy G that was almost painful to watch. Kyle lived that every day.
But part of the human experience is to at least mourn losses. That’s all I’m saying.
Take a moment. Cue up Green Day’s “Time Of Your Life” and watch some highlights. Or listen to Barbra Streisand tell you “It’s the laughter/we will remember/whenever we remember/the way we were” as you watch the Erin Andrews interview again. Or, if you’re really down for some maudlin action, go back to my childhood and cue up Paul Anka’s old “Times of Your Life” Kodak ads. Don’t blame me when you wipe your tears with your No. 10 jersey.
For a good while, it felt great, baby. Let’s not forget.
