26 Sep 49ers Lose an Ugly One, Plenty of Time to Bounce Back

Under the bright Sunday night lights, the San Francisco 49ers laid another egg on the season, as they lost to the Denver Broncos 11-10.

One thing that’ll be said right away: It was a remarkably impressive way to lose. The 49ers offense scored 10 points, while their defense held the Broncos to 9 points scored. The “bonus” 2 points given to the Broncos was a result of an ill-advised Jimmy Garoppolo safety, in which he ran out of the back of the endzone.

Aside from the low-IQ play by Garoppolo, it was an overall atrocious day for the offense, most notably (and once again) Garoppolo.

The debate that’ll likely carry over into the next game, a primetime Monday Night Football matchup against the Rams, will be lauded with question marks about Garoppolo’s effectiveness, versus coach Kyle Shanahan’s ability to dial up plays for the inept offense.

In defense of Shanahan for the week, I will say this: There were PLENTY of plays to be made on the field, that went for naught due to horrid QB play.

One thing can be certain: Jimmy Garoppolo is consistently inconsistent. On a positive note, I truly do feel that Garoppolo’s current level of play is unsustainable. We’ve seen what the offense looks like when it is clicking with him under center. In regard to getting into rhythm, Garoppolo said “It was my first week with these guys, we’ve got to get in a rhythm. Re-acclimation period… I’m not trying to make excuses, but I’ve just got to get in game shape and get rolling now… We had a good rhythm last year. We just have to get back to that. We’ll get there.”

In a sense, he isn’t wrong. This past week was his first official full week with first team reps, getting ahold of the playbook, and working with starters. However, his overall level of play should not be held back by a level of excuses involving rhythm and understanding the plays. After all, he’s been with Shanahan for 5 years now!

Nonetheless, it’s still early in the season, and the 49ers have time to right the ship and get it back on course. With another full week of reps, and an extra day in between games, there should literally be no excuse for another poor effort by Jimmy next week against the Rams.