Once again, the San Francisco 49ers managed to go deep in the playoffs despite not having an explosive offense. Their doubts at the quarterback position haunted them all year long and eventually doomed their chances.
Jimmy Garoppolo performed fairly better than expected during the regular season but could never find his groove in the playoffs. Moreover, Kyle Shanahan didn't seem too eager to put the ball in his, hands to begin with.
The Niners made Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitchell the focal points of their offense and, while it worked more often than not, Niners' legend Steve Young thinks it showed a lack of confidence in their QB.
49ers News: Steve Young Says Kyle Shanahan Didn't Trust Jimmy Garoppolo
“When he joined the team, the team needed a quarterback to make some throws, and they didn’t have that,” Young told KNBR’s “Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks”. “Jimmy can make throws, he’s a starting quarterback in the league. How far he can go, I feel like in the end was limited by the trust between Kyle and Jimmy. It never got completely established like I wish it would have. In the end, both guys have to own that, and Jimmy does as well.”
“And so where does he fit in the pantheon of 49ers quarterbacks? We’ve had guys that couldn’t play,” Young added. “Guys that couldn’t lead or didn’t own the locker room. He’s accomplished a lot, and I don’t think we should diminish it. But we also have to recognize that whatever is missing, and however it didn’t get done, we all have to own that as well.”
Per Young, the Niners looked like a team that had already made up their mind about Garoppolo even though they were still winning and close to punching another Super Bowl ticket:
"It looks to me like, as an organization, they have decided that despite all of the success and the winning, we’re moving on. And so in the pantheon, it’s somewhere in there, but neither of them, Kyle nor Jimmy, it’s where they know they needed to be," Young concluded.
Now, both parties are most likely heading towards a divorce, although moving Jimmy G's deal will be complicated. But the questions at QB will still be there, as Trey Lance is still a work in progress and will need more time to develop into a starting-caliber signal-caller.
