Jimmy Garoppolo

No one was more confident than Jimmy Garoppolo that the offense would remain on the field.

In an old, cavernous stadium, filled with 70-plus-thousand red seats, there was a red swarm.

It was a deliberate, brutal way to beat the defending NFC champions.

The San Francisco 49ers are 3-0. The issue, however, is that they’ve made myriad errors which they’ve been able to get away with.

The 49ers tried to give the game away to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but thanks to a performance that was nothing short of heroic by the defense, they escaped with their first 3-0 record since 1998.

For the first time since 1998, the San Francisco 49ers are 3-0. That bodes well for their playoff chances, and that’s not something that’s been said in quite some time.

Turning the ball over five in the first half isn’t a fantastic recipe for success, but as the 49ers found out on Sunday, when you have an elite defense against a backup quarterback, you can survive it.

What the 49ers did on September 15 was demolish a Cincinnati Bengals team that was only a week removed from nearly beating the Seattle Seahawks on the road.

The benefit of winning a game early is that you can rest some of your starters and secure reps for your backups.

The San Francisco 49ers are just a different team when Jimmy Garoppolo’s behind center.