The San Francisco 49ers have been to two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl in three years. Both trips to the postseason ended in a loss.
After both occasions, fingers immediately began pointing at Jimmy Garoppolo. His inability to play composed, successful football in late-game scenarios haunted the Niners in their Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs in 2020 and NFC title game loss to the Rams this year.
However, football’s a team sport. It takes dozens of players to win games.
San Francisco 49ers star Arik Armstead thinks the constant Jimmy Garoppolo criticism is not fair. He admitted as much in an interview with Jim Rome this Tuesday.
“I think we’ve been close to the top of the mountain sometimes,” Armstead told Rome, via 49ers Web Zone. “I feel that, obviously, when you don’t win the Super Bowl, then people start pointing fingers and questioning why. Sometimes it’s really not too many reasons. Not everyone can win each year. … The quarterback position is obviously important, so he becomes the number one prime suspect of why we can’t get over the hump.
“Is it fair? I would say, ‘No, not fair.’ I think Jimmy’s a great quarterback, and like I said, I was part of a lot of losing seasons before he joined our team, and he brought a sense of a new refound energy at that position to help us win. I think he’s obviously proven he’s a phenomenal quarterback and can win games.”
He may be right. Perhaps the Garoppolo criticism went too far at times. But let’s not forget the 49ers might be to blame here.
Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch sold the house to acquire the No. 3 overall pick and drafted North Dakota State star Trey Lance with it back in 2021.
The Niners have made their intentions clear – they want to replace Garoppolo with Lance. The reasons why are pretty obvious at this point.